On April 21, local school council elections will take place at our city’s elementary schools and on April 22 at our high schools. LSC elections typically have an extremely low turnout. LSCs, however, spend taxpayer dollars and how wisely they spend those dollars will have a direct impact on every resident’s pocketbook. If our schools are run inefficiently, state legislators will have to repeatedly raise taxes to provide for our students. Efficiently run schools save taxpayer dollars by providing a solid education for our students with the dollars that we have.

LSCs also determine what programs to fund. Two years ago, when I ran for the LSC at Skinner, our school was a selective enrollment school where only those students who scored well on an exam or who were selected by the principal were allowed to attend. Neighborhood residents paid taxes for the school, but their children were often excluded. We have since won the fight for our children to attend our neighborhood school, but need community representatives who will work diligently to make certain that students in the neighborhood program and students in the selective enrollment classes receive the same funding.

For instance, whether our neighborhood kindergarten class is a full-day or half-day program next year may ultimately be decided by our LSC. Vigorous community representation will be necessary to ensure that this funding remains in place. So please consider voting in your local school council elections next week. The polls are open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. and everyone who lives within the attendance boundary of the school is eligible to vote. This information can be found out by calling the Office of Local School Council and Community Relations at 773-553-1400 or by visiting www.cps.edu.