Chicago's first elected school board president faces budget crisis and political challenges

So talking a little bit about the Chicago school board race, Jessica Biggs set to serve as Chicago's first elected school board president in January. She's going to inherit some challenges, that's for sure, including a budget that relies on state money that hasn't yet been approved. So joining us this morning is the Chicago Bureau Chief for Chalkbeat, Becky Vevey. Becky, good to have you this morning. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. So I mean, Jessica Biggs, let's talk about it. This is a tough job. What is next for Jessica Biggs now that she has won this election? Yes, so it is a very tough job. It will be the first time that an elected school board president will be managing a 21-member school board, counting themselves. And they're facing a lot of challenges at the Chicago Public Schools, including, as you mentioned, the budget deficit that the school system faces. So back in July, the current board passed We passed a budget that rolled back some proposed layoffs of staff. By assuming that the state would come through with additional. With additional state funding, and that is very much unknown. And if that doesn't happen in the veto session, then in January, when these new board members are sworn into office, they're very likely going to have to face a decision about whether or not to cut those staff that were kept on board back in August. So, I mean, when you talk about the staff cuts, the money that technically hasn't been received by the state, there are several issues facing the state. Well, I think one of the big things she'll have to do is get to know her fellow board members. And there are four races that are still too close to call, but If the leads in those races hold, the board majority is likely going to go to candidates who are more in favor of school choice. Potentially a little bit more fiscally conservative folks who maybe aren't wanting to raise the property tax to the cap all the time or every year, which is what the board has been doing for the last several decades. But, you know, they they seem to be. In alignment with Jessica Biggs, it looks like she may have 11 members of the 21 who View things similar to her. Nevertheless, she will have to coalition build with other members. It looks like the Chicago Teachers Union endorsed candidates. They will get about nine seats. And then there's a couple that are sort of in the middle. And I think one of her first tasks will be getting to know those members so that they can effectively govern as a group. And then tackling those budget challenges and really also digging Digging in on some policies that are sort of. hot right now, including technology and artificial intelligence use in the classroom. You have board members who took very firm stances on the campaign trail about that issue. And you'll also see them sort of get to know the district itself, including CEO, Superintendent Macklin King, who is the permanent CEO that actually Jessica Biggs was, she helped- You know, hire Macklin King into that role since she was a sitting board member for the past two years. So we'll see as they all sort of get to know each other. Yeah, and when you talk about getting to know each other and kind of forming a coalition even with people that you may not agree with, I have to admit after the race, I was reading the comments as they were coming down on social media. And there are people who did not vote for Jessica that contend that she was backed by a lot of people funneling money into her campaign. So how does she build trust with those people, would you say, the people who did not vote for her? Right, well, so she did have a coalition, an interesting coalition. She had the support of the SEIU, which is the union that supports some of the lowest paid school support staff. But she did not have the support of the CTU, the Chicago Teachers Union, which is a big force in the school system. And their candidate, Hilario Dominguez, got about 30% of the vote. And I think Being able to work well with the Chicago Teachers Union will determine how I guess sort of stable the politics and the. The system is over the next couple of years. So that's one relationship that I think will be a challenge for her because she did not have their support. She did have the support of a lot of wealthy individuals, including billionaire Michael Sachs, who created a political action committee that spent a lot of money in these school board races. And that drew the ire of the Chicago Teachers Union. And then there's just a lot of parent groups. Parents who really don't. Maybe don't really care about which special interest was backing these candidates. Now they just want these people to step onto the board and make the schools better and make the schools work for their families and their children. Yeah, people want action for those students there and what a tough job this could be. All right, so we will be watching to see what happens next. We'll talk to you next. Becky, thanks for being here. We appreciate this. Thank you so much, Liz. Liz, how wonderful you are.