Early voting is underway, and many are hyper-focused on the national midterms, when voters will select congressional representatives that may dramatically change the balance of power in Washington, D.C.

Don’t look to the East, Chicago voters. Democrats will win big in your deep-blue city. The name of the Chicago game is the school board elections.

Chicago mayors have appointed and ruled the Chicago Public Schools board for decades. Now, for the first time, city voters will choose all 21 members of the board, and its president.

This is a consequential contest. Voters will select one candidate from their school board subdistricts. Forty-six board candidates are vying for 21 seats; some will win two-year terms, others, four years. The board president runs citywide.

That next president will hold sway over setting the agenda for a body that approves the CPS budget, sets district-wide policies and priorities and hires and evaluates the system’s CEO.

Yet, I detect little enthusiasm or even awareness about these races. I ask voters about the school board elections. Most shrug. They are focused on the midterms, they say.  Or, they reply, I don’t have children in the public schools. Why should I care?

This school board will decide how much taxes we all will pay, how much public debt we all will be burdened with and whether our city’s future leaders can achieve.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for those who pay for and use the schools to have a........

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