Stay-at-home mom and former educator Jennifer Custer beat veteran educator Michelle N. Pierre by just under 2,000 votes in the race to represent District 1 on the elected school board with 98% of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press.Pierre conceded on Wednesday. Custer, a former assistant principal and suburban union leader was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, which strongly supports a neighborhood school focus.But Custer said she will equally invest in neighborhood schools and charter schools, and will prioritize the needs of students.“I'm vowing that I will be open and available to community members to share ideas and talk about education related issues,” Custer said on Wednesday. “I represent them and I want to make sure that their voice is heard in this process.”She also thanked Pierre for her “commitment and hard work.” Pierre received financial backing from the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, but the two women ran on similar platforms.Both told WBEZ they supported having sworn Chicago police officers stationed in schools. They were united in their opposition to the current board’s move away from the school choice system. And both candidates said they were fans of Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and that they wanted him to stay on despite Mayor Brandon Johnson’s efforts to oust him.In addition, both Custer and Pierre were opposed to short-term borrowing to cover CPS operating costs.Their key difference lay in their stance on raising the property tax levy to the maximum allowed by state law each year. The levy is how much revenue CPS wants to raise through property taxes. CPS each year can raise the levy by 5% or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. This year that rate was 3.4%. Custer supported raising the levy, while Pierre did not.Custer’s campaign promises include building up bilingual programs across CPS and hiring more bilingual teachers to meet the needs of the Latino children who make up 53% of District 1. Maintaining school buildings across the CPS system is also high on Custer’s list of priorities. Chicago School Board Race ResultsDistrict 1 - Far Northwest Side District 2 - North Side District 3 - Near Northwest Side District 4 - North Side District 5 - West Side District 6 - Loop, South Side District 7 - Southwest Side District 8 - South and Southwest Side District 9 - South Side and Southeast Side District 10 - South Side This Far Northwest Side district encompasses Portage Park, O’Hare, Dunning, Jefferson Park, Norwood Park and Edison Park. It includes 43 schools — six rated by the state as exemplary and one as needing “intensive support.” Of the 274,000 residents in District 1, 55% are white, 32% Hispanic, 9% Asian and about 3% Black. The students attending the schools are 53% Hispanic, 32% white, 7% Asian and 4% Black — and about 55% are considered low-income.