A New CPS Board Takes Shape, With Big Decisions Ahead

For the first time in Chicago's history, voters chose all 21 members of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) board on Election Day. This is a big deal because the school board used to be picked by the mayor, not by regular voters. Now the people of Chicago have a direct say in how their schools are run. The new board will face some very difficult choices, including possible cuts to school spending in the middle of the school year.

Jessica Biggs won the citywide race for board president, beating two other candidates. She will lead the largest fully elected school board in the entire country. Biggs defeated attorney Victor Henderson and Hilario Dominguez, who had the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). A fourth candidate dropped out before the election but still appeared on the ballot.

The election became a contest between the CTU and groups that support school choice. The CTU is the union that represents Chicago's teachers, and it is considered a progressive organization. The groups that opposed the CTU wanted more independence from Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is a former CTU organizer. Both sides spent a lot of money trying to get their candidates elected.

When all the votes were counted, neither side came out with a commanding win. About nine board members are aligned with the CTU, while around 12 are not. That means Biggs will lead a divided board and won't have the two-thirds majority needed to pass certain things, like changes to the school budget. This could make governing very difficult.

Not everyone sees the board as being split into two warring teams. Bridget Lee, who runs a Chicago education nonprofit, said people should focus on what all 21 members have in common. "I think the city and students got 21 passionate community leaders who have the opportunity to make sure the system is doing what it needs to do to support our young people," she said. Board members also don't always vote the same way as the group that supported them.

Incumbent board member Yesenia Lopez is a good example of an independent thinker on the board. She represents a district on Chicago's Southwest Side, and the CTU endorsed her in 2024. But she voted differently from the union on two important budget decisions. She says she weighs the impact of every vote on her community rather than following any one group.

The CTU's candidates did better than many people expected, even though the union was outspent by its opponents. In five races where CTU-backed candidates won, they led by more than 25 points. CTU Vice President Jackson Potter said voters chose union-backed candidates because they understand that big money in politics can be harmful to democracy. However, the CTU's pick for board president, Dominguez, lost by about 17 points.

Potter blamed Dominguez's loss partly on negative ads that brought up an old investigation into his behavior. The investigation was closed about two weeks before the election, and investigators found the claims were not supported by evidence. Potter said the flood of money spent on those attack ads drove voters away from Dominguez. He believed the spending, not the facts, was the deciding factor.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) backed candidates who are on track to win 10 seats, including Biggs for board president. The CTU and SEIU used to work together, but they had a falling-out last year over a labor dispute. Only six candidates were endorsed by both unions. Anthony Driver, who leads an SEIU-funded political group, said Biggs's win showed she could build a broad coalition of supporters.

The new board's biggest early challenge is a budget crisis. Without extra money from the state of Illinois, CPS may have to make cuts in the middle of the school year. The previous board passed an $10.1 billion budget that counted on $150 million in new state funding — but that money has not arrived. Possible cuts include layoffs, unpaid days off for workers, and a freeze on spending.

Biggs voted against that budget, but she says the board needs to act quickly. "There's not an opportunity to wait until a fully elected board is seated to figure out how to move," she said. She wants the board to make a clear plan at its December meeting, after the city figures out how much extra money it can send to schools. Getting the finances in order will be one of her first big tests as president.

Another big issue on the horizon is school closures. Biggs said she plans to let the current rule against closing schools expire at the end of the 2026–27 school year. This is almost sure to cause conflict with the CTU and Mayor Johnson, both of whom strongly oppose closing schools. Biggs says closures would be a last resort and that she would never close a school without hearing from the community first.

Biggs hopes to keep the board from becoming too divided by building personal relationships with each member. She said she plans to have one-on-one conversations and use the board's new committee structure to get things done. Leading a 21-member board through some of Chicago's toughest education debates will not be easy. But Biggs says she is not ready to accept that the board is broken before it even begins.