KOCO leads a multi-ethnic coalition advocating for an elected school board. This has garnered significant public support through precinct-based referendums. As a first step, Chicago will hold Board of Education elections in November 2024.
KOCO is proud to have worked with our communities to help make this happen. In 2017, KOCO played a leadership role in forming Communities Organized for Democracy in Education, or CODE, a citywide, multi-ethnic coalition of 12 parent and community groups fighting for a representative school board.
In the 2010s, Chicagoans in two different non-binding referendums voted to elect school board members, replacing the city’s board made up for mayoral appointments. In the 2017 referendum, KOCO and CODE’s campaign for a representative board won 327 precincts in 35 wards out of 50 total wards across Chicago with an average 86% affirmative vote.
Then KOCO and CODE worked with Illinois’ state legislators to pass a bill calling for an elected representative school board.
Parents have the right to help shape the education that their children receive.
KOCO and CODE also have successfully fought against the privatization and closing of schools in communities of color, and we uncovered the fact that persons connected to the Board of Education paid protestors to counter the demands of the parents and students within communities.
Our fight will never stop.
