Who are the people who will vote in the Chicago school board elections?

Chicago voters are choosing their candidates for the first time in the city elected school board.

But the electorate looks very different from those who will have the most invested in the school board’s actions — Chicago Public Schools students and their parents.

A WBEZ analysis shows that the majority of voters are likely to be Chicagoans who do not have children currently enrolled in Chicago Public Schools.

About three out of every four households in Chicago are childless, according to data from the 2022 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau. And nearly one in six Chicago students — among those enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade — attend private school.

At the same time, many parents who have children in the city’s public schools are not eligible to vote.

Nearly one in eight Chicagoans age 18 or older are not citizens, according to Census Bureau data.

Voters without children in CPS — childless young adults, grandparents whose children have moved, and parents who enroll their children in private schools, among others — could also have a huge impact on the results.

Areas of the city where a large proportion of high school and primary school students attend private school and where the vast majority of households are childless are also places that have seen high voter turnout in previous national and state elections. national level. Meanwhile, neighborhoods with high public school enrollment rates tend to have lower attendance rates than areas with low public school enrollment, according to WBEZ analysis.

Illinois state Rep. Ann Williams, whose district covers parts of the communities of Lakeview, North Center and Roscoe Village, says having a high-profile presidential race at the top of the ticket should help boost voter turnout and turnout. in school board elections. . Williams led the Illinois House of Representatives’ effort to draw the city’s school districts.

“Even if you don’t have children in school, the success of your neighborhood public schools is critical to the success of your community. Good neighborhoods have good schools,” Williams said.

Education and parent advocates also have a lot of time expressed concerns about whether the elected board will be fully representative of the CPS student population.

District enrollment demographics they are very different from the city as a whole. CPS students are 11 percent white, 35 percent black, 47 percent Latino and 5 percent Asian, according to CPS. However, the city’s population is 30% white, 27% black, 30% Latino and 8% Asian, according to the Census Bureau.

A survey and focus groups for parents from the nonprofit education advocacy group Kids First Chicago found that most people want the board to reflect the makeup of the student body, which is nearly 90 percent black students. However, the racial and ethnic makeup of the 10 seats up for election may look somewhat different, given that at least one white candidate is running in at least half of the contests.

Vanessa Espinoza, 47, a bilingual communication specialist for Kids First Chicago, sent all three of her children to CPS schools for parts of elementary and middle school. For their high school education, they attended the Chicago Latin School, a private school through a program for high-achieving students from low-income families.

But Espinoza still has a strong feeling about the school board election. She wants to see CPS invest more resources in lower student-teacher ratios, bilingual education and diverse learning programs. She also wants guaranteed elected board seats for parents and a racially representative school board.

“As a former CPS parent, I think CPS parents should have a voice, because it’s about their kids, but other Chicago residents, like me in this case right now, right, we should be able to weigh in and we about what we want and (want) our taxes to be used (for).”

A resident of the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Espinoza said most of the parents she knows in her community are not American citizens. “They feel like they’re not being heard, (they feel) left out, they feel like they don’t matter,” she said.

“Without non-citizen participation, it makes me wonder … who decides for all the non-citizen parents, if they’re not represented?” Espinoza asked.

State Rep. Williams said the lack of non-citizen participation is one of several issues that will likely be an “ongoing discussion” with her Illinois House colleagues.

“I think we have to see how it goes out of the gate,” Williams said. “This is a historic election, the first time we will democratically choose voices for our families about the future of Chicago Public Schools.”

Years ago, Paula Rodger’s daughter attended school in the Los Angeles area. Rodger, 72, now lives in Uptown on Chicago’s North Side. Glad Chicago is getting more representation. She said the school system needs to be better funded, but not on the backs of taxpayers.

“I think the city government needs to get its act together and look at their priorities,” Rodger said. “And they can’t keep raising taxes on everything,” so that the burden of CPS funding falls on homeowners like her.

Some childless young professionals, like 25-year-old Honor Allen, are also showing an interest in school board races. Allen is in the college of education at DePaul University. She is concerned about fair school funding and the threat of school closures.

“I think what we’ve seen the last two weeks has been really discouraging and doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence,” Allen said. “It also makes me so sure that a school board should be elected by the citizens and not appointed by the mayor.”

Allen said she worries that people without a direct personal connection to CPS won’t take school board elections seriously.

“It definitely makes me feel a little nervous, but I feel like everybody should remember that they’re paying taxes, hopefully one way or another they’re invested in it,” Allen said. “Our children are our future.”

Amy Qin is a data reporter for WBEZ. Follow X @amyqin12. Anna Savchenko is a reporter for WBEZ. You can reach her at [email protected]. Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.