[3] The Common Council initially held the authority to the members of the Board of School Inspectors.
[3] Ultimately, the mayor would gain the power to appoint the members with city council approval.
[4][5] In a charter passed by the Illinois General Assembly on February 13, 1863, the Chicago Board of Education was granted exclusive power over operating the city's schools.
B. Pritzker signed into law HB 2908, legislation that will make it so that, by 2027, the Board of Education will consist entirely of elected members.
[12][1][13] With the exception of the president, each of the appointed members will hail from a different one of the ten electoral districts used for the 2024 Board of Education election.
[12][15] The legislation dictates that the convention of having twenty members from geographic districts plus a board president elected at-large will remain place thereafter.
[13] The electoral districts that will be used for Board of Education elections will have their boundaries drawn by Illinois General Assembly.
[16] The current President is Sean Harden, a former Deputy CEO of Chicago Public Schools, who was appointed to the position by Mayor Brandon Johnson in December 2024.