The crowded race for Chicago’s school board seat representing the North Side’s 2nd District has turned into the most expensive one citywide.
Four candidates are vying to win election in the district that encompasses Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Peterson Park, Budlong Woods and Andersonville, along with the Far North Side communities of Edgewater, Rogers Park and West Ridge. The district is perhaps the city’s most ethnically diverse and mixes some wealthy neighborhoods with more working-class and immigrant populations.
In other districts, there’s a straightforward battle between the Chicago Teachers Union and opposition groups. In the 2nd District, the number of candidates makes the race a bit more complicated.
Ebony DeBerry, 47, is a community organizer and former Chicago Public Schools teacher who was raised in Rogers Park. She’s supported by CTU and affiliated progressive groups.
Margaret “Maggie” Cullerton Hooper, 43, is a senior consultant with the Alliance for Black Equality political action committee and worked in city government previously. Cullerton Hooper has been endorsed by some labor unions. Her father is retired former Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.
Kate Doyle, 35, leads a nonprofit that supports low-income young adults with free career training and job placement. Endorsed by a smattering of smaller groups, Doyle has billed herself as the independent progressive option.
Bruce Leon, 62, recently sold a human resources company he founded. He’s backed by Urban Center Action and the Illinois Policy PAC — more conservative groups that support school choice, oppose the CTU and are largely backed by wealthy business leaders and some billionaires.
They collectively amassed $1.1 million.
DeBerry, Cullerton Hooper and Doyle are more closely aligned than Leon — but their views still differ in some significant ways.
On Mayor Brandon Johnson’s vision to prioritize neighborhood schools and shift away from school choice, Doyle thinks neighborhood schools should receive more funding but not at the expense of selective enrollment and magnet programs.
Leon wrote that “selective schools and charter schools raise the tide for everyone.”
DeBerry said she fully supports the change to the school system’s funding formula that helps schools “where the individual needs of children were high and not being met.” Cullerton Hooper said she wants to see public engagement as part of the process.