Victor Henderson lays out CPS plans ahead of historic Chicago school board election

Victor Henderson, it's an honor to sit down with you. I appreciate your time. So you've invested half a million dollars or a little bit more. You're writing the check, so I'm sure you would know a bit more, you've invested more than half a million dollars in your own campaign using your own money. What convinced you that this position is worth that big of an investment? Chicago has given a tremendous amount to me. And one of the three big pillars of moving Chicago forward is public education. And we owe it to the students, we owe it to the children to make sure that they get a first-class education, and right now the city is not doing that. You are the only candidate in this race who doesn't have experience as a CPS teacher, necessarily. Why should voters choose you over somebody with that CPS experience? Well, for a couple of reasons. One, I've been in public school my entire life, you know, from K through 12. My father went to DuSable. My mother-in-law went to DuSable. My father-in-law went to Dunbar. All of my kids went to, you know, CPS. So I don't think you have to be a chef to know a good meal, you know, when you see one. So, I mean, I think the The other thing is that the board has a lot of, you know, different people. You know, I think there should be parents. There should be community activists. But, you know, it's a $10 billion budget. You also need people who know finance. You need people who know law because there are contracts that need to be negotiated. You need people who have leadership experience. And so, you know, those are the things that I bring to the table, you know, in addition to the fact that I know good education when I see it. I have gotten a great education, and I know what it looks like. Both of your opponents have discussed this $150 million that's been budgeted for the district to get from Springfield. However, that money is not in the bank just yet. It's very speculative. What is your plan if Springfield doesn't come through on that $150 million? Well, the first thing is that I want to jump into the books. I'm the only one in the race who has that skill set. I'm a business owner. I've been a business owner for 15 years. I have to make payroll every month. I have to make sure that the revenue and expenses are properly aligned. I also trained as a certified public accountant. You can't just walk in off the street and be an orthopedic surgeon. You can't walk in off the street and be a journalist. You can't walk in off the street and be a teacher or a mechanic. You can't walk in off the street if you haven't been trained in finance. I'm the only one of the three who has that training. They don't have that training. And so with a $10 billion budget, you have to not just look at the numbers, you have to look underneath the numbers to see really what's going on. Like a mechanic has to look under the hood. If you don't look underneath the numbers, then you don't know what's going on. So when you look under the hood right now, What do you immediately see as the area where you say, we can cut this or we can find some savings? The first place where I would go would be the approximately $2 billion worth of discretionary income or discretionary expenditures, I should say. You know, 70% of the budget is approximately, you know, goes to, you know, teachers and benefits. 10% of it goes to debt financing. The real opportunity, at least immediately, is the $2 billion, you know, of... What I'm going to characterize is discretionary spending, and I've spoken with, you know, people who believe that we could be able to find $100 million to $200 million per year savings. Now, that doesn't mean that that gets us all the way out of the hole, but that's the first place I would look. And you've got to look below the numbers. Does that mean, like, cutting contracts? Absolutely. I'd much rather cut contracts than teachers, and I know how to cut contracts. So what contracts stand out to you that you think? As a general rule, the larger ones are the first ones you want to look at. You also want to find out, you know, who sent the people to CPS for those contracts. Did they come from the fifth floor? Did they come from some other kind of place? So those are the kind of things that you look at. To figure out, you know, are there sweetheart deals in there? But again, I've spoken to people who work inside CPS and they believe that there's at least $100 or $200 million a year that we can find. You know, it may mean going to the courthouse. It may mean renegotiating deals. But at the end of the day, as much money as possible needs to get into the classroom and as little as possible needs to go to outside vendors. That's where I'd be looking. What happens if you take that look under the hood and you realize some of these things just can't be cut? Are you opposed to seeking out borrowing to close any gaps? From a financial perspective, CPS is bordering on the verge of being bankrupt. They're $10 billion in debt, and that debt has accumulated over an extended period of time. So I would not... favor any additional borrowing if it can't be done on favorable terms. You know, that depends on the market, you know, but I am optimistic that there's money to be found in that budget. There's no way that there's a $10 billion budget and there's not excess in there. I just don't believe that. You said previously that school closures should be something that is on the table. What criteria would you use to determine whether a school should be shut down? Well, there's several things. Number one. I would just be one person as a board member. Just one. There are hundreds if not thousands of people who should weigh in on that decision. So first and foremost, I personally would not favor closing a school or consolidating a school if it meant that the children who are going to be moved would have a lesser education. I wouldn't want that for my kids. I don't think you'd want that for yours. I would never want to, you know, see a situation where a child's safety is put in play. You remember, these are not just, you know, you have billionaires. Who are financing this campaign and probably see these school closures as just numbers. You know, people aren't chattel, you know, and then the most important element of it is that you have to bring the people into the community to make decisions. There are 20 school districts across the city, so what may work in one neighborhood may not work in another. But the point is that for me as the president, the process to me is more important than the outcome. When the process is right, people are more inclined to buy into the outcome. And what happened in 2013 and what I think will continue to happen in the future is that people in the community and parents and teachers and students and stakeholders, they need to be at the table. This is the issue that we have. How do you think we should deal with it? It shouldn't be a decision that's made from the top down. If it did come down to... You and the board making a decision to close a neighborhood school, how would you convince families that this wouldn't be something that would destabilize their community as we've seen other closures do? So I put my lawyer hat on. You negotiate. So there are three things that I have seen here in the city of Chicago. On the corner, I think, of Madison and Central, there's this beautiful building where there is a community center that went into a school that's over 100 years old. There's some schools up north. And mind you, the real estate market all over the city is different. But there are schools up north or old schools up north that have been turned into multimillion-dollar condos. It could be affordable housing. So the point is that. The job of the president is to move the conversation forward. It's the job of the people in the community and the stakeholders to make the decision. You know, you know, I see myself maybe as an orchestra leader, but I'm not trying to play all the instruments. People have to be engaged, and so you have to bring people to the table, the aldermen, the state reps, the state senators, the parents, the teachers. Hey, we have a building that has 25 kids in it. This is how much it costs. Give everybody the facts and let them make their decisions. Previously, you've criticized the political influence surrounding CPS, CTU, SEIU, all of it, and painted yourself as the independent candidate in this race. But you do have some powerful supporters yourself. Why should voters view your candidacy as more independent than your opponents? He who pays the piper calls the tune. Nobody has given me any huge money. I have people who are supporting me, but that's different than people pulling my strings. Absolutely, I have people supporting me, you know, Father Flager, Danny Davis, you know, Bobby Rush, John Cullerton, Emile Jones. I mean, the list of people who are invested in seeing the public school system move forward is very long, and you can see that on my, you know, on my webpage on the endorsements. But them having... A seat at the table. Everybody should have a seat at the table. Everybody's voice should be heard. But that's different than having somebody pull my strings. And I'm the only candidate of the three. I don't present myself as being independent. I am independent. I'm the only one of the three who doesn't have a billionaire and or a powerful organization, you know, sitting at the table. You know, there are contracts that have to be negotiated with these organizations. You know, the billionaires are going to want something in return. This is real life. And, you know, either it's going to be business as usual or we're going to try to change things up. If it's business as usual, then you've got two other choices. If you want to see things, you know, changed, you know, then I'm the only one in the race. Again, that's why I put my money in. You talked about it. Nobody's going to pull my strings. My career doesn't say that. The financing in this campaign doesn't say that. And when you look at the other two candidates, you know, they may sit and tell you that they're not going to allow their strings to be pulled. That's not how this game works. There's too much politics in CPS, it's just, and that's why the system in part is where it is. It's, it's, we're in a bad, we're in bad shape. All three candidates in this race have had to answer some questions about controversies within their career. Thank Recently, you know, you discussed a domestic issue that arose with your family. You know, You know, as we get to Election Day, what do you say to voters out there who, you know, they saw that and it gave them pause and they have concerns about what that means for your leadership? Well, two or three things. First of all, the accusations are untrue, unfounded. It never happened. you. Number two, and more importantly, there was a process, and I talk about the process. You know, my situation came up 15, 20 years ago. You know, Jessica Biggs was the one who was going through my court records. I mean, I've heard a dozen people tell me that. But the most important thing is the judge didn't believe there was anything untoward, and the people in the city shouldn't believe it. The judge had the opportunity to hear what was being alleged. The judge didn't buy it, and you shouldn't buy it because it didn't happen. After you serve your term, What is a reasonable metric that voters should use to grade your performance? Reasonable metric one, one is an emotional one. Is the culture changed? Are parents more involved? Is the community more involved? Is the system more transparent or is it still as opaque as it has ever been? Secondarily, the two other people in the race, you know, Jessica Biggs has voted to raise taxes each and every time. You know, in the last 12 months, she's voted to raise taxes three times. And Hilario Dominguez has said that he's going to continue to raise taxes. But don't believe me. You know, look in the Sun-Times from October 13th, I believe it is. So look at your tax bill. I mean, that's a big thing. And, you know, that's why I say I want to look into the numbers. The tax increases should not happen unless and until CPS can prove to the people in the city that they're handling their money properly. And right now, we don't know that. I don't believe that it's happening that way. People understand. that they have to pay taxes, but they want to believe that their money is being used wisely. I'm the only one in the race who has the skill set to dig into those numbers. I'm the only one in the race who's saying, you know, actions speak louder than words. You know, Jessica Biggs has raised taxes, as I said, three times in the last 12 months, but I believe she doesn't know the numbers. Hilario Dominguez says he's going to raise taxes. That's what he says. This is what they're saying. I'm telling you, I'm not going to do it unless and until We look in the numbers and everybody is satisfied that those numbers are on the up and up and the money is being spent wisely. I don't believe teachers should be buying school supplies. I don't believe parents should be taking toilet paper and paper towels to school. That's ludicrous. I mean, you know, what are we doing? It's almost like we've been lulled to sleep to accept, you know, things that are just out of the ordinary and in many cases just absurd. What happens if you lose this election? Are you still going to be involved in schools and in CPS? I will find the best way to be involved to, you know, make my voice heard and to make the voices heard of the other people who are, you know, supporting me and believe in, you know, public education. But I will tell you, you know, this is Chicago politics are pretty dirty. And what I have learned From this process is that people will try to, you know, tear you down. They will they have their own interests and they're fighting hard. There are a lot of people fighting hard to keep the system the same way it is. I know I think the system needs to change and it needs to change dramatically and as quickly as we can make a change. Victor Henderson, thank you for your time.