District 4a neighborhoods: Lakeview, Uptown, North Center, Edgewater
Longtime Uptown teacher and incumbent board member Karen Zaccor was leading Tuesday in a three-way race to represent a chunk of the North Side, according to Associated Press election results.
Chicago Teachers Union member Zaccor was narrowly defeating well-funded education consultant Ellen Sherratt and stem cell researcher Angel Alvarez. That’s despite anti-Chicago Teachers Union groups spending more than $300,000 attacking her plus another $300,000 bolstering Sherratt’s campaign.
“I am down by 2,000 votes with 2 precincts yet to report,” Sherratt said late Tuesday night. “It’s not the outcome we hoped for but not inconceivable that a victory is possible either.”
Zaccor was ahead with 44% of the vote to Sherratt’s nearly 39% and Alvarez’s 17%, with 97% of the precincts reporting, according to AP results early Wednesday morning.
The area along the north lakefront is home to 15 schools, less than almost any other school board district. About 57% of students attend their neighborhood elementary schools — a little higher than the 46% citywide average — but that share is much lower for high school. The district serves a diverse student body; about 35% are Hispanic, 27% are white, almost 24% are Black and nearly 8% are Asian, according to data compiled by Chalkbeat.
Zaccor has voted consistently with a majority bloc of board members also appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson or elected with backing from the Chicago Teachers Union, Johnson’s former employer and close ally. Her priorities also echo those of the union, which endorsed Zaccor. They include pushing for a billionaires tax or other progressive state revenue to boost school funding.
Her opponents Sherratt and Alvarez argued that the district must do more to address mounting deficits than lobby the state.
Sherratt drew endorsements from the Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council, which represents support staff and has split politically with the teachers union in recent years, and other groups that oppose the CTU. Those include the Common Ground Collective, an anti-CTU political action committee.
Common Ground and the political arm of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools have spent more than $600,000 on this race, attacking Zaccor as they bolstered Sherratt. And Sherratt has raised more than $260,000 individually — the most of all candidates, as of Monday. Alvarez had no outside PAC support.
Sherratt had said she would push for setting ambitious student achievement goals.
Alvarez, who leads a family advisory board for the district, said he would champion more responsive special education and protect families from higher property taxes.
Contributing: Mila Koumpilova of Chalkbeat Chicago
