Here’s what to know about the race in District 4A, including the candidates and their campaign platforms.
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The district
District 4A is primarily located on the North Side of Chicago, though it also encompasses a small stretch of the lakefront on the Far North Side. The district covers parts of Edgewater, Lake View, North Center and Uptown. By racial demographics, the population is approximately 66% white, 11% Black, 11% Asian and 10% Hispanic.
The district boasts 15 schools in all, the majority of which are elementary schools, including a number that offer fine and performing arts, dual language, technology and personalized learning programs. Its sole neighborhood high school is Lake View High School, but the district also maintains one charter and one citywide high school.
The school board member currently representing District 4A is Karen Zaccor, appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson in 2024.
The candidates
Three candidates are running in District 4A: Angel Alvarez, Ellen Sherratt and incumbent Karen Zaccor.
Alvarez is a research assistant professor at Northwestern University, Sherratt is an education consultant and Zaccor is a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher.
Angel Alvarez
What are your top three priorities if elected?
- Sustainable budgets that empower local school councils, not central office, to support their students.
- Universal early screening for students with disabilities, gifted children and other needs, enabling targeted interventions.
- Stronger K-2 reading and math instruction to build early mastery.
Do you support continuing the moratorium on school closings? YES / NO
Closures should be rare and evidence-based, decided with LSCs and real community input, not a budget shortcut, and only when it’s in the best interest of the students. Any savings should go directly back to the students and communities most harmed by the closing.
Do you support the Chicago Board of Education’s decision this summer to budget an additional $150 million in state funding to reverse layoffs and prevent a spending freeze? YES / NO
This was reactive, not responsible. I’ve warned for years that CPS budget reporting hid real costs and pointed toward exactly this kind of crisis. The board should have planned ahead instead of patching a hole this summer, and this will cause greater harm when all the needed funding doesn’t materialize.
Should Chicago Public Schools continue raising its property tax levy to the legal limit? YES / NO
Families, especially low-income families, are already stretched thin, and rising property taxes raises rents and costs for everyone. CPS should pursue new state, city and private revenue, reform the vendor process to save money and spend existing dollars more effectively before asking taxpayers for more.
Ellen Sherratt
What are your top three priorities if elected?
- Student learning, starting with ensuring every child has access to excellent teachers who can get them reading at grade level.
- Honest budgets that stop the borrowing that drains money out of classrooms and into debt service and enables the full funding of our schools.
- Rebuild trust by answering to District 4A parents rather than City Hall.
Do you support continuing the moratorium on school closings? YES / NO
Closing a school is a last resort, and I will fight to keep neighborhood schools strong, but I am not afraid to have difficult conversations about situations where a building has a fraction of the students it was built for and children are going without the arts, electives and programs that make a school whole.
Do you support the Chicago Board of Education’s decision this summer to budget an additional $150 million in state funding to reverse layoffs and prevent a spending freeze? YES / NO
I’ll fight in Springfield for every dollar CPS is owed, but spending money that has not been appropriated is reckless and sets up CPS for credit downgrades and deeper cuts midyear, when principals cannot rebuild a schedule. I will use my prior skills advocating in Springfield to secure the resources CPS needs honestly (and effectively).
Should Chicago Public Schools continue raising its property tax levy to the legal limit? YES / NO
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But I will do everything I can to change the conditions so the board won’t have to continue to raise the levy in the years ahead. CPS has significant financial needs, and we must provide every student with a strong education. Yet Chicago families are under real financial pressure, and property taxes can affect renters as well as homeowners.
Karen Zaccor
What are your top three priorities if elected?
- Fully fund our schools so every child can attend a high-quality, well-resourced school.
- Transform CPS into a Sustainable Community Schools district: The rigorous, equitable, restorative, inclusive model we dreamed of.
- Include student and parent voices in all aspects of school life.
Do you support continuing the moratorium on school closings? YES / NO
Closing schools saves little money at great community cost. Closing 50 schools saved only $25 million a year and harmed many children and families. It targets the Black community, which has taken the brunt of disinvestment over decades. Community and CPS support can turn a school around: Dyett High School went from 15 to now thriving with 500 students.
Do you support the Chicago Board of Education’s decision this summer to budget an additional $150 million in state funding to reverse layoffs and prevent a spending freeze? YES / NO
Cuts already are harming our schools. Between $4 billion in progressive revenue bills left on the table, $1 billion passed but not earmarked and $500 million more revenue than expected the first two months of the fiscal year, the funds are there. We lag behind most states in funding education. CPS should work with others to pressure the legislature.
Should Chicago Public Schools continue raising its property tax levy to the legal limit? YES / NO
The levy is the only tool we have to increase revenue. If CPS forgoes the levy, the loss of revenue compounds, potentially costing the district hundreds of millions. We cannot ask other entities to fund us and not take the only steps we have to increase funding. Every board has voted for the maximum levy.