Mayor Brandon Johnson is replacing all but one member of the Chicago Board of Education, bringing on advocates with experience in grassroots organizing and nonprofit organizations.
The changes are among the new mayor’s most pivotal decisions to date as he looks to transform education in the city. Johnson spent most of his career in education and with the Chicago Teachers Union, which helped catapult him from political outsider to City Hall.
The new board will have a different feel than in past years when consultants, lawyers and bankers filled many of the seven seats. Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed more educators and Chicago Public Schools parents than her predecessors, and Johnson is moving further in that direction by appointing several activists to his new board. Only one of his appointees is a lawyer, and she runs a legal aid organization, while another new member works in philanthropy at a bank.