More than 40 candidates have submitted paperwork to run for Chicago’s first elected school board in November.
In the months leading up to the election, Austin Weekly News will highlight those from the school board’s 5th District — which covers Austin, Galewood, Garfield Park and Lawndale — to discuss their goals for Chicago Public Schools.
What are the school board elections?
After about a decade of lobbying for an elected representative school board, Chicagoans in November will now be able to vote for 10 members for the board.
The first election of its kind in Chicago follows legislation signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2021, which changed the structure of the board. It expanded the school board from seven members who were appointed by the mayor. In January, after the election, the new school board will have 21 members, just under half of which will be elected by Chicago residents. Mayor Brandon Johnson will also appoint 10 members and a board president.
According to the Chicago Board of Education, the elected members will serve two-year terms and volunteer up to 30 hours a month, most of it spent at or preparing for board meetings. Meeting responsibilities include establishing district priorities, approving district policies, purchasing decisions, contracts and improvement plans.
“An elected school board will help students and their families have a strong voice in important decisions about the education system in Chicago,” Pritzker said in a statement.
The new school board will cover 10 districts, which are divided into two subdistricts. The mayor will appoint school board members in the subdistrict that the elected candidate doesn’t live in.
While the school board’s 5th District represents the 24th, 28th, 29th and 37th Wards, District 7 also covers parts of the 24th and 28th Ward. District 3 covers part of the 37th Ward, while District 1 covers part of the 29th Ward.
In the upcoming months, Austin Weekly News will profile candidates running in the 5th District: Aaron “Jitu” Brown, Michilla “Kyla” Blaise, Anthony Hargrove, Kernetha Jones and Jousef M. Shkoukani.
Jousef Shkoukani, 29, is one of the five candidates running in the 5th District. He works as an attorney at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, a law firm in the Loop. And though he doesn’t have a career in education, he said he cares a lot about it.
“I really value education and wanting to make sure that every student receives a quality education,” Shkoukani said. “I think that it’s important to have different perspectives and backgrounds.”
Shkoukani sits on the local school council at Wilma Rudolph Learning Center on the Near West Side, but will no longer be able to serve if elected to the school board in November.
In 2020, he started the nonprofit Unified Under Hope. Shkoukani said the organization’s initial mission was to get resources to areas disproportionately affected by COVID-19. But when Shkoukani looked into the factors that cause these disparities, largely in communities of color, Unified Under Hope’s mission shifted.
“We thought education was the root of it because, even if you talk about median income or the ability to have health insurance, you’re talking about the ability to obtain a good-paying job, a salaried position,” Shkoukani said. “And that goes with schooling.”
Unified Under Hope provides literacy programs and supplemental tutoring across schools in Michigan, where Shkoukani grew up.
Unified Under Hope often assigns tutors based on what students prefer, whether they want more of an extroverted or introverted tutor, or one with a specific background. This way, students can relate to their tutors, who often become their mentors, too.
“Sometimes when you’re connected with a tutor, it’s hard having somebody teach at you,” Shkoukani said. But if students look up to their tutor, it allows them to believe in themselves more, he added.
Because of this work with the nonprofit, Shkoukani was recognized by Forbes 30 under 30 last year. He said he hopes to expand Unified Under Hope to Chicago by pairing students across CPS with high school-age tutors.
Shkoukani moved to Chicago in 2021 and lives in the Near West Side with his wife. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and worked as a financial analyst before starting law school.
As a financial analyst, he said he learned the importance of managing budgets, forecasting outcomes and digging into accounting when results didn’t align. He said he will bring this experience to the school board, if elected, when considering the district’s $500 million deficit.
CPS has worked toward addressing this shortfall by laying off central office staff, cutting administrative costs and restructuring debt, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. CPS has also changed its budgeting model for the next school year.
In the 2024-2025 school year, CPS will allocate the same resources to all schools. CPS will give additional resources based on need, rather than funding schools based on student enrollment, as it has for the last decade.
“They’re focusing on a more equitable approach, and I believe that,” Shkoukani said. “And I think it really helps the West Side.”
Goals for CPS and 5th District
Several schools on the West Side have lower enrollment than other CPS schools, and Shkoukani said he’s heard about the need for better neighborhood schools in Austin specifically.
Austin College and Career Academy High School had 165 students enrolled at the end of the most-recent school year, while Frederick Douglass Academy High School only had 31, according to Chicago Public School data.
While several factors have contributed to the systemic disinvestment of these high schools over the years, Shkoukani said one reason enrollment has fallen is because parents send their children to charter schools, instead of neighborhood schools.
“I think charter schools act as a crutch,” Shkoukani said. “I think a lot of parents, that at least I talked to, were a little nervous that, if their student didn’t get into Whitney Young [Magnet High School] or Jones [College Prep], then they would be stuck having to go to Wells [Community Academy High School],” Shkoukani said about the schools nearby where he lives.
Because improving neighborhood schools will take time, Shkoukani said he doesn’t think immediately defunding or closing charter schools is the answer. But as CPS amends its budget for the upcoming school year, Shkoukani said he believes the number of charter schools in Chicago will decrease.
“I think that charter schools play a vital role right now and really provide parents with comfort,” Shkoukani said. “I believe in school choice, but I think if we build up our neighborhood schools, parents will then choose neighborhood schools.”
In May, Rep. La Shawn Ford filed a resolution to construct a new neighborhood school in Austin.
While a new high school on the West Side would be life-changing for many young people, Shkoukani questions how to afford it. He said the fixed costs of opening a new building would be far more than the cost to improve existing high schools — especially when CPS has close to a half-billion-dollar deficit.
Another way to address this shortfall, Shkoukani said, would be to repurpose some of the CPS empty buildings around the city as a source of funding outside of taxes.
If elected to the 5th District school board, Shkoukani said he will actively involve parents and families in shaping the policies within their schools by being available by phone, over email and in-person, including holding office hours.
“Being a part of the community is key, and that’s really what I try to do every day,” Shkoukani said. “And it’s not that I have to try, it’s that I genuinely enjoy meeting new people, talking to people and hanging out with new folks. I think that’s where the most meaningful conversations will happen.”
This is something Shkoukani said he has learned as he’s seen how tense school board meetings can get. He hopes his role at these meetings would be one of easing tension.
“I don’t pretend to know all the answers,” he said. “I think hearing everybody’s input and being able to come up with the most collaborative solution is always the best way.”
What’s next for Shkoukani
Shkoukani is still on the ballot for November, but was one of 27 school board candidates who had someone challenge his nomination papers at the beginning of this month.
Such objections often concern the 1,000 signatures required to get on the ballot. Those who file challenges claim that candidates collected signatures from voters not registered to vote in their school board district, from voters who wrote incomplete addresses or omitted them, or voters who signed the nomination papers more than once.
Shkoukani had his initial hearing July 9 and will have another hearing the week of July 14, where he and the Chicago Electoral Board will go through his signatures line-by-line.
Since hearings have started, three people have withdrawn their candidacy, although none are from the 5th District.
Shkoukani got 1,067 signatures to qualify as a candidate. Though he hopes to stay on the November ballot, if he’s removed, he said he will certainly run again for the 5th District school board in 2026. And he’ll shoot for 3,000 signatures.
“I think I would make for a good candidate because I have a variety of skills and a background that could contribute well for the students,” Shkoukani said. “And if that’s really what this is all about,” he added of the students, “I think that’s what should matter most.”