District 4a voters will choose among three candidates offering different approaches to Chicago Public Schools’ mounting budget pressures: incumbent Karen Zaccor and challengers Ellen Sherratt and Angel Alvarez. The district covers Lakeview, Uptown, North Center and Edgewater and includes 15 schools. Zaccor, a retired CPS teacher appointed to the board two years ago, is defending her North Side seat as her challengers argue the district should do more than seek help from Springfield.
An Incumbent Appointed by the Mayor
Zaccor joined the board in 2024 after placing second among six candidates, according to WBEZ Chicago. A retired CPS teacher and longtime Uptown teacher and advocate, she has voted consistently with a majority bloc of board members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson or elected with Chicago Teachers Union backing, the station reported. The CTU has endorsed her. On school funding, Zaccor supports a billionaires tax or other progressive state revenue sources.
Sherratt, a teacher recruitment and retention expert, and Alvarez, a stem cell researcher who leads a family advisory board for District 4a, are challenging Zaccor. Both say CPS should take steps to address its deficits beyond lobbying the state, according to WBEZ. The race is part of the first election in which all 21 Chicago school board seats are being contested after nearly three decades of mayoral control, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Big Outside Money Flows to One Candidate
The financial gap between the candidates is stark. The Common Ground Collective, described in the reporting as an anti-CTU political action committee, and the political arm of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools have together spent more than $600,000 on the race, bolstering Sherratt while attacking Zaccor. Sherratt has also raised more than $260,000 individually, the most of any candidate as of Monday, the station notes. Alvarez, by contrast, has no outside PAC support.
Sherratt also has the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council. She has said she would push for ambitious student achievement goals. Alvarez has said he would advocate for more responsive special education services and work to protect families from higher property taxes.
A District Shaped by Its Neighborhood Schools
District 4a stands out for how many of its students stay close to home. About 57% of students attend their neighborhood elementary schools, a little higher than the 46% citywide average, per WBEZ's reporting. The district's demographics have been described somewhat differently across recent coverage: WBEZ reports students are about 35% Hispanic, 27% white, almost 24% Black and nearly 8% Asian, while a Chalkbeat Chicago voter guide published in September put the numbers at about 37% Latino, almost 26% white, 23% Black and nearly 8% Asian.
The Budget Backdrop Driving the Race
The candidates’ competing approaches come as CPS is projected to finish a second consecutive school year in the red, according to a separate WBEZ report from earlier this year. The district had projected a $45 million deficit at the end of the current fiscal year on June 30 — a smaller shortfall than in prior years, but still a gap to address.
That followed a tougher stretch over the summer, when CPS proposed a $9.88 billion budget for the 2026–27 school year while confronting a $732.5 million deficit, as reported by Chalkbeat Chicago. District officials said layoffs, revenue increases and cost-saving measures took a $450 million bite out of that gap, and they hoped to avoid five staff furlough days and a spending freeze by persuading state lawmakers or the City Council to steer more dollars to the district. CPS has separately said it outlined a balanced $10.25 billion budget for fiscal year 2026 that it says protects school budgets and avoids furloughs and borrowing.
How the deficit figures differ
The figures refer to different budget measures, not one gap changing size. CPS said its proposed FY2026 budget was $10.25 billion and closed a $734 million deficit, according to Chicago Public Schools. That proposed FY2026 budget figure is separate from the $732.5 million deficit reported for the 2026–27 proposal; the $45 million figure is the projected shortfall at the end of the current fiscal year.
Whoever wins in District 4a will join a board that controls real levers over that fiscal picture. Members approve the district's multibillion-dollar annual operating budget, set the academic calendar and control major policy decisions, including matters like the removal of police officers from school buildings, according to a voter guide from WTTW. CPS's own enrollment figures show the stakes extend beyond dollars and cents: the district's student population has fallen by 5,882 students, or 1.8%, since the 2022-23 school year, based on its September 2025 count.
