KOCO played a leadership role in forming a city-wide multi-ethnic coalition of 12 parent and community groups (Communities Organized for Democracy in Education), and winning a precinct-based referendum campaign for an elected representative school board in 327 precincts in 35 wards out of 50 total wards across Chicago with an average 86% affirmative vote. Communities Organized for Democracy in Education (CODE) is currently working to garner political will from Illinois’ state legislators to pass a bill calling for an elected representative school board. CODE has also been instrumental in raising public awareness around the negative disparate impact of public school privatization and school closings on communities of color, and uncovering the practice of persons connected to the Board of Education of paying protestors to counter the demands of the parents and students within communities.
