Glenbard school board president appointed to state House seat

DuPage County Democratic leaders have appointed the president of the Glenbard District 87 school board to an Illinois House seat.

Margaret DeLaRosa has been sworn in to the 42nd District seat. She replaces Terra Costa Howard, a Glen Ellyn Democrat who resigned from the seat to become a DuPage County Circuit Court judge. State law prohibits judges from holding elected offices.

“I am both honored and humbled to be selected, and I will do my very best to represent and serve the people of the 42nd District,” DeLaRosa said in a statement released by DuPage Democrats Monday.

DeLaRosa has been on the Glenbard school board since 2015. She won another 4-year term this past April. Only one other board member — Martha Mueller — has as long a tenure.

DeLaRosa was selected by a committee consisting of county party Chairman Reid McCollum; Dyan Page, Chair of the York Township Democratic Organization; and Dennis Terdy, former Chair of the Democratic Party of Milton Township.

There were five applicants for the vacancy. Under state law, the appointee must be a member of the same political party as the departing officeholder and otherwise eligible to serve in the General Assembly.

Costa Howard has been a state lawmaker since 2019.