Chicago elected 10 school board members. Now it is the mayor’s turn to choose 11.

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For the first time in Chicago history voters chose 10 people on Tuesday to serve on the city’s partially elected 21-member school board.

Now there’s a new question: Who will Mayor Brandon Johnson choose as the remaining 11 board members?

Chicagoans may not know the answer for another month, because state law gives Johnson until Dec. 16 to make his appointments.

But the results of the early elections, those of the mayor recent overhaul of the school boardand the mayor’s alliances provide some clues about who Johnson might choose. The mayor’s office did not respond to interview requests for this story in time.

Preliminary election results show four winners backed by the teachers union — the mayor’s close ally — in Districts 1, 2, 5 and 7. Three more people, backed by pro-school choice groups, won in Districts 3, 4 and 7 8. And the remaining winners, in Districts 6, 9 and 10, took no money or volunteer support from the union, pro-charter or pro-school choice groups.

With 11 appointments and four ideologically aligned elected members, Johnson will still have significant control over the school system as it emerges from three decades of outright mayoral control.

The former seven-member board that resigned en masse – six appointed by Johnson – acted on several of the mayor’s priorities, including removing police officers from school campusesimplementing one new financing formula for schoolsAnd communicate a strategic plan That focuses on neighborhood schools.

The mayor’s new majority could once again play an important role for him in implementing his preferred agenda, including: the ouster of CPS CEO Pedro Martinez or taking out a short-term loan to pay for pension and union obligations. It could also prevent the board from approving school closures, as a state law banning such closures in Chicago expires on Jan. 15, 2025, the same day the new board will be sworn in.

However, there are some restrictions on who Johnson can appoint now.

By state law, every school board district is split into two subdistricts with a view to the 2026 elections and beyond. Tuesday’s winners will become incumbent directors in the canton in which they live. The law requires Johnson to appoint school board members who live in the opposite subdistrict of the winning candidate between now and Dec. 16.

In an interview with Chalkbeat last month on the day the the entire previous school board resignedVice Mayor Jen Johnson said the mayor’s office has been “thinking about and monitoring the machinations” during the election. When asked whether the mayor was trying different scenarios, or taking into account people who live in both parts of each district, Deputy Mayor Johnson, who is currently on leave, declined to comment.

“I’m not going to go into details, but we’ve all taken it into consideration,” she said.

Will the mayor choose losing candidates for the school board?

The mayor was able to appoint people who ran for school board and were supported by his ally, the teachers union, but he did not win a seat.

There are three people who fit this bill: Karen Zaccor, Anusha Thotakura and Felix Ponce.

Zaccor, a longtime community organizer and retired teacher, lost her bid to represent District 4 to Ellen Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld lives in 4B, but Zaccor lives in 4A. In an interview with Chalkbeat on Wednesday, Zaccor said the mayor’s office has not yet contacted her about her nomination. If Johnson does, she would accept it.

“I’m not a puppet to anyone in any way, but yes, I think I can contribute things that other people can’t, based on the fact that I’m fresh out of class and also come from a long history of are part of the fight for equality,” Zaccor said.

In District 6, union-backed candidate Anusha Thotakura lives in 6A, versus winner Jessica Biggs, who lives in 6B. Thotakura said Wednesday that she has not yet heard from the mayor’s office, but that it will “truly be an honor to be considered by the mayor as an independent thinker who has received a lot of support from the community.”

“I think we share a lot of values ​​and a vision for high-quality public schools in our city, so in that regard it would really be an honor to be considered,” she told Chalkbeat.

In District 8, Felix Ponce is the union-backed candidate who lives in 8B, versus winner Angel Gutierrez, who lives in 8A. Ponce did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Can newly appointed board members stay on?

Johnson already appointed a new group of people added to the school board last month, after the previous board resigned en masse. One member – the chairman of the board – did do so already resigned amid a swirl of controversy related to anti-Semitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial online comments of the past.

Although the mayor claimed the new appointments were part of a transition plan, he will now have to reevaluate his appointments in light of who won Tuesday’s school board races.

Chalkbeat analyzed public records, including property records, Cook County and Illinois Board of Elections filings, to determine where the new current school board members live. That does not rule out the possibility that they have recently moved.

Mihillia Blaise, a current school board member who ran in District 5 on the West Side but later quit, was able to stay on as a Johnson appointee because her last known address is in 5B, across from Jitu Brown, who won Tuesday night. Brown was the only candidate on the ballot in District 5 and lives in 5A. Blaise used to live in a home she owns in Albany Park, but is now divorced from her husband and lives with her two children in a property owned by her mother in East Garfield Park, in District 5, she told Chalkbeat this summer.

Another new appointee to the school board, Mary Gardner, would likely have to resign because her last known address is in the same part of District 5 as Brown’s home. However, the mayor could choose Gardner or Brown as board chairman because the person in that role could live anywhere in Chicago. The board will transition to a fully elected board in 2026, so voters will also elect the board chair at that time.

Board members Debby Pope and Olga Bautista could also stay, as their last known addresses are on the opposite side of the winners in Districts 2 and 10, respectively, according to public records.

Ebony Deberry, a union-backed candidate, won in District 2 and lives in 2A, while Pope listed an address in 2B on paperwork she filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections when considering her run for school board.

Che “Rhymefest” Smith, an independent candidate, appears to have won in District 10 and lives on the 10A side. Bautista, a longtime environmentalist who ran for alderman in 2015 in the 10th Ward on the far Southeast Side near the Indiana border, owns a home in 10Bb, according to Cook County property records.

According to Cook County property records, board member Frank Niles Thomas appears to own a home in Subdistrict 9A. That would allow Thomas to stay, since his home is on the opposite side of the presumptive District 9 winner, Therese Boyle, who lives in 9B, according to Chicago Board of Elections records.

How will the mayor determine who to appoint?

The mayor’s office did not respond to Chalkbeat’s requests to interview the mayor about how he thinks about school board appointments. But at one press conference last monthhe talked about the process.

“There are plenty of people who would like to be on the school board.” Johnson said. “We have no problem with that.”

He also reiterated several times that he still has the sole power to appoint people. There is no formal or public process for expressing interest.

“I have the authority to investigate as many people as I want,” Johnson said.

In Tuesday’s elections, the candidates from District 1 and District 3 both lived in the same canton. No losing candidates or sitting school board members live in the opposite canton.

In District 7, Yesenia Lopez lives in subdistrict 7A, according to Chicago Board of Elections data from this election cycle. Both of her opponents live in the opposite subdistrict, 7B, but neither is ideologically aligned with Johnson. Currently appointed board member Rafael Yanez appears to own a home in District 7, based on Cook County property records and city building permits, but that home is in the same subdistrict as Lopez.

Samantha Smylie and Becky Vevea contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at [email protected].