Chicago School Board District 5 results

There is only one candidate on the ballot to represent the 5th District on Chicago's new school board. That's Aaron "Jitu" Brown , a long-time education activist and advocate for the elected board. However, Brown is being challenged by two write-in candidates: attorney Jousef M. Shkoukani and Kernetha Jones.

The three candidates are vying to represent a district that stretches from the affluent West Loop into the more disinvested West Side neighborhoods of West Garfield Park and Austin. Brown and Shkoukani completed a candidate questionnaire. Jones did not. Brown and Shkoukani live on opposite ends of the district — Shkoukani lives in the West Loop, while Brown lives in Austin. Brown, who is endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, is opposed to charter schools. Shkoukani supports them. Brown is opposed to closing schools with low enrollment. Shkoukani said there may be situations where it makes sense to consider closures.

The two also differ on the newest, and perhaps most controversial topics, confronting the district: whether to keep schools CEO Pedro Martinez amid a dispute between the mayor and the CEO, and whether to take out a high-interest loan to cover CPS operating costs during a budget deficit.

Brown said he would support taking out a loan if it was necessary to prevent "cutting primarily Black or brown schools," and losing teachers or resources for students. He said he didn't know if he'd support keeping Martinez.

Shkoukani, meanwhile, said he would keep Martinez, calling himself "a fan" of Martinez's work. He also rejected borrowing, saying it was important to have the necessary resources, but "it's also important that we do it in the right way. I don't want to mortgage our kids' futures."

This largely West Side district includes West Town, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, Lawndale and Austin. It's home to 100 schools — two of which are rated "exemplary" by the state and 11 as needing "intensive support" — and 274,000 residents. District 5's population is 57% Black, 19% white, 19% Hispanic and 3% Asian. The students who attend the schools are 62% Black, 5% white, 28% Hispanic, 3% Asian and 1% multiracial — and 77% of those children come from low-income backgrounds.