There are at least two elected boards in DeKalb County that have so far failed to attract candidates for the Consolidated Election of April 1, 2025. Both are part of the local education infrastructure. Both operate under state rules that restrict how many board members can come from each township in their districts.
Some are blaming the shortage of candidates on these restrictions. I think it’s more likely we’re missing the communication piece.
Our first example comes from the Daily Chronicle‘s coverage of Sycamore District 427 (D427) schools. Unlike DeKalb’s District 428 school board consisting of at-large members, D427 must observe a rule that no more than three residents per township serve as board members on the seven-member D427 board. Evidently this has led to shortages of candidates from the less-populated townships, which the board must fill by appointment.
D427 has decided to address the issue by running a referendum to change to at-large representation in an effort to grow the candidate pool. The first one took place this past November. The “nays” had it by less than 200 votes; also, some of the “nay” voters allegedly believed a nonfactual story that the switch would allow Cook County residents to serve on the board. For these reasons, D427 recently decided to run the referendum again in April.
Our second example is a problem faced by DeKalb County’s Regional Board of School Trustees. The RBST, which is functionally ad hoc and exists solely for the purposes of hearing school consolidation and certain annexation cases, similarly must follow a state rule that only one resident per township can serve. RBST is supposed to have seven members but currently only two — from DeKalb and Sycamore townships — are seated, which prevents the board from attaining quorum to hold its meetings. Recently the state’s attorney’s office obtained an opinion from the attorney general that the remaining RBST members are allowed under state law to appoint the needed members. That’s a relief. Nevertheless, the procedure departs from democratic ideals and we must figure out how to avoid repeating it.
I highly doubt that state law allows RBST to hold a referendum on proportional-versus-at-large representation. We’re probably stuck looking elsewhere for the solution and the first clue is zero media coverage of the situation. DeKalb County has 19 townships but can’t attract 5 people to step up to fill the empty seats? It feels more like a best-kept secret. What are the odds it’s happening because no one is taking responsibility to get the word out?
Likewise, while we may commend D427 for fighting the fake specter of big bad Cook County in its district, it’s not clear they intend to explain why proportional representation is required in the first place: to ensure voices for the district’s more rural townships don’t get erased by the dominant urban-y one in the middle. A successful switch to an at-large system could do just that, constituting a very real and probably permanent loss.
In my view, then, the major puzzle to solve is how to deliver meaningful and timely information to the 21st Century local electorate, including reaching potential candidates in the more rural portions of our county.
Related:
DeKalb County Regional Office of Education The superintendent of ROE is an independently elected officer and an ex-officio member (secretary) of the Regional Board of School Trustees. Use the link above to contact Superintendent Amanda Christensen if you have questions about ROE or RBST, including interest in serving on RBST.