Illinois Families for Public Schools is also calling for school screen time limits and the appointment of a new chief privacy officer for Chicago Public Schools.

District officials said they have done a lot to preserve arts education and increase academic rigor at the former contract school. But supporters on the school board said they want to see more.

The school board wants voters to give their opinion on a new statewide millionaires tax and a city penalty on the owners of vacant properties. Both could generate revenue for public schools.

Two incumbents and two would-be board members survived efforts to throw out their signature petitions, and one other candidate was kicked off the ballot.

The board will consider asking Chicago voters whether they support a state millionaires tax and new penalties for owners of undeveloped city lots.

Last fall, then-interim CEO Macquline King floated a restructuring of the district’s network offices overseeing schools. The district backed off, but conversations in that vein have continued.

With attorney Victor Henderson loaning $500,000 to his own campaign, the race to lead the city’s first fully elected school board has no donation limits. Super PACs gearing up to get involved in the board elections haven’t started spending big yet.

The budget includes layoffs and other measures to tackle a $732.5 million budget gap.

The politically powerful Chicago Teachers Union announced a slate of endorsements for the city’s first fully elected school board Monday. The union has less campaign cash than other entities, but its tens of thousands of members can help get out the vote.

Eugene Robinson Jr. spoke with Chalkbeat about the start of the plan’s rollout, the federal pressure to scrap it, and the search for philanthropic backing for the initiative.