To help inform voters on who’s running for Chicago’s elected school board, the Chicago Tribune education team posed a series of questions to the candidates in each district. These questions ranged from basic information on their background and campaign platform to their stance on several issues facing Chicago Public Schools.
See the answers from Jessica Biggs, candidate for elected school board in the 6th District, below.
About the Candidate
Name: Jessica Biggs
Age: 41
Neighborhood: Bronzeville
School District: 6
Education: Master of Education in school leadership, Harvard University; Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and Bachelor of Science in psychology with a minor in women’s studies, Loyola University Chicago
Current Job: Organizer and director, Southwest Organizing Project
Previous Political Experience: None.
Questions and Answers
In the interest of transparency, the candidate’s responses shown here are published as written and have not been edited by the Tribune.
Did you attend Chicago Public Schools or is anyone in your immediate family a CPS student? Yes, an immediate family member.
Have you worked at Chicago Public Schools or another school? What is your background in education?
I was previously a special education teacher and a Principal at CPS’s Burke Elementary. During my tenure at Burke, student performance increased dramatically and the school was taken off probation. Today, I work as a community leader and organizer building systems of partnership between schools, healthcare, behavioral health and community-based organizations that work to support the holistic needs of students and families.
Why are you running for a seat on the Chicago Board of Education?
I am a CPS parent, so I have a significant stake in the success of the system. I am also an experienced educator. I was previously a special education teacher in California and a principal at CPS’s Burke Elementary. I choose to become a teacher and then a school leader in large part because of the inequalities I saw in my community and the world. Everyone deserves access to an excellent education, regardless of zip code, regardless of wealth, regardless of anything. I sought, in my small way, to make that a reality. That is a large part of why I became a principal. Often good leadership is what makes the difference between an excellent school and a failing one. When I was appointed principal of Burke the school was on probation – its students were performing far below grade level and its culture was disorganized, unkind, and hostile. By the time I left, the school was no-longer on probation and the school culture was a beautiful mix of high expectations, compassion, care, and joy. I am running for school board because every Chicago student deserves a school like that. I want to take what we know creates schools worthy of their students and apply those lessons to schools across Chicago. This is a pivotal moment in Chicago’s history, and I want the best for my daughter and every CPS student.
How would you describe your district?
CPS is a mix of impressive success and deep failure with tremendous potential.
How would you describe your campaign platform?
My platform has three core components. The first is independence. By staying independent of the major sources of money and power shaping our schools, I can ensure that the only people I will be beholden to are my constituents. The second is experience. I have worked many years in education, as both a teacher and administrator, I know what makes a school excellent and what doesn’t. The third is justice. CPS operates a profoundly unequal system that consistently leaves black children and families holding the short end of the stick. This cannot continue.
What is the single most important issue facing CPS students?
The job of a school is to educate its students. I believe that the single most important issue facing CPS students is the quality of the education they are receiving. There are many issues that contribute to a school’s ability to be a center of educational excellence; funding, excellent staff, superb physical plants, are all critically important, but at the end of the day what we need to aim for is the consistent delivery of a high quality education to all students.
Provide three to four key points you want voters to know about your campaign.
As a CPS parent, former CPS principal, and teacher I have a stake in the success of the system and an intimate understanding of its complex issues. I believe we must deliver a high-quality, well-rounded education while being fiscally responsible. We have a responsibility to future students and taxpayers, just as we do to current students. I am running without either the backing of the CTU or charter groups. I will represent the people of District 6 instead of the special interests seeking to influence our system.
Given this year’s budgetary problems and disagreements on how to solve them, what do you propose for the district’s funding in future years? Would you support the district in taking on any loans in future years to fund the annual budget?
CPS’s budget is in a deeply unsustainable place. We are facing deficits as far as the eye can see. This is one of, if not the, critical issue the new board will have to face. I do not support taking out loans to pay operating expenses. Instead, I want to take a two pronged approach. We must both seek additional revenues while also seeking to find efficiencies within the CPS bureaucracy. For example, I will be a tireless advocate for additional funding from Springfield. At the same time we must save money. Amongst other proposals, I would like to limit the size of the central office bureaucracy, seek contracting efficiencies, such as implementing design-build or standardizing manufactured materials and cut rules that unjustifiably raise costs. We can’t be ideologues about this. Our children and their children are depending on our prudent and responsible stewardship of Chicago’s public schools.
The Chicago Board of Education recently adopted a new 5-year Strategic Plan. Which aspects do you support and which would you change, if any?
On the whole, I support the new 5-year Strategic Plan. It will be critical that there is a corresponding reporting and monitoring structure by which the Board and the public receive regular updates on progress and adjustments needed based on clear metrics for success. This is an aspirational plan that should guide the direction of the district in the years to come.
As thousands of migrant families settle in Chicago, how should the District handle the influx of English learners? What more should be done to ensure consistent bilingual education is provided and funded?
We do not provide sufficient resources for ELL students and their parents. For one, there is a profound shortage of teachers with bilingual certification. I support funding the coursework needed to achieve bilingual certification and offering test-in opportunities for multilingual speakers. This would allow people to achieve temporary licensure more quickly as they work toward more permanent certification. Additionally, we have many parents who are bilingual speakers; we should consider ways to hire them in support roles to supplement core bilingual instruction. For parents, especially those who have recently arrived, CPS is often deeply challenging to navigate. I support providing navigators, who are fluent in each individual’s native languages, to help them chart their course through the system.
Do you believe the district has historically underinvested in South and West side schools? Yes.
If yes, what solutions would you propose to address inequities and opportunity gaps in the school system?
The opportunity gap is huge. I have and will continue to work to address it tirelessly. The implementation of the Opportunity Index and a move away from Student Based Budgeting is a good first step to ensure equitable funding and programming options for students and schools historically disinvested in. Without full and fair funding, we cannot hope to achieve equity in opportunity. I will also fully support building the infrastructure to support the implementation of the work of the Office of Black Student Success and the Black Student Success Plan. As always, we need to monitor progress to ensure that implementation leads to the intended outcomes to close opportunity gaps for students across the district.
Since his election, Mayor Johnson has indicated a desire to move away from school choice and bolster neighborhood schools. This was recently reinforced by in the District’s 5-year Strategic Plan. Do you share this position? Why or why not?
My daughter is a student at Galileo Scholastic Academy, a magnet school, so I feel strongly that selective enrollment and magnet schools must continue to be options. I do not support shifting the system and resources away from these schools. However, CPS’s neighborhood schools have historically struggled in a way that selective enrollment schools haven’t. I support much of what the new 5 year plan attempts to do to improve the quality of education at neighborhood schools, just not at the expense of magnets and selective enrollment schools.
What solutions do you propose to provide busing for students at selective enrollment and magnet schools?
We must restore bussing for general education students. To accomplish this we need to hire bus drivers. You can’t bus kids if there is no one to drive the bus. I view the problem as an eminently solvable labor market issue that can be addressed through tried and true solutions:
- We will simplify the application process. You should be able to apply and schedule an interview within 24 hours. Bus drivers are in demand, we need to hire them as soon as we identify that they are a good fit. Anything less and they may go somewhere else. After they are offered the job, we need to expedite the background check process. Ideally we will be paying them while they go through their pre-onboarding and onboarding processes. Their pay should be contingent on them completing the process and being staffed. By taking on CPS’s overly bureaucratic, time consuming, complicated, and expensive application process we can tackle the friction that causes people not to apply and to attrit during onboarding; We need to do everything we can to get these folks in the door.
- We must work to increase the supply of people trained to the job by funding Commercial Driver’s Licensure and offering both coursework and the exam in Spanish and English.
- Lastly, we have to make the job attractive. We can do this by offering signing bonuses, raising wages to match or exceed the pay levels in suburban districts, the CTA and private CDL employers. Instead of viewing bussing as a service that can be cut to make room for other needs, I will treat it as a necessity deserving of time and financial resources.
Please share your thoughts on how the District and the Chicago Teachers Union can settle on a new 4-year contract.
At the end of the day Board members and the CTU should want the same things; excellent student outcomes and fair wages and working conditions for represented employees. The first thing we need to do is build trust between employees, the administration and the Union. Everyone needs to understand that we are approaching the negotiations in good faith and that, ultimately, we are all rowing in the same direction.
In 2024, Chicago Public Schools’ average literacy proficiency rate is 31%, an increase from pre-pandemic years. These rates, however, were lower for students from low-income families, English learners and students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs). How should the district seek to improve literacy rates going forward?
Teaching positions in low-income schools and in Special Education and Bilingual roles are some of the most understaffed of any in our school system. Ensuring that these roles are filled with strong talent must be a priority if we are to improve literacy rates amongst these groups. I would prioritize staffing pipelines by incentivizing and funding such bilingual and special education certification. I would also seek to reduce bureaucratic barriers to receiving these certifications. We must support and incentivize our most talented staff in seeking out these in-demand roles.
What is your position on expanded funding and renewal terms for charter schools?
Generally, I support the status-quo with respect to charter renewals. Five years is a reasonable amount of time for each renewal. I support 10-year renewals in exceptional circumstances where the school is performing extraordinarily well. With respect to funding, we have a responsibility to support our students who currently attend charter and contract schools and that means providing reasonable increases to charter budgets. I do not support opening additional charter schools.
Please provide your thoughts on how to keep Chicago Public Schools as safe havens for students to learn and flourish fear of violence. How do you propose the district approach this?
The culture of our schools needs to reflect care, joy, community and safety. We don’t do this by policing our students but rather through thoughtful facilitation of relationship building between students and between staff and students. Building and sustaining these relationships requires adequate resources. Each school should be equipped with a counselor, a social worker, along with a restorative justice or school culture coordinator to meaningfully support students’ wellbeing.
