Chalkbeat

How is Chalkbeat Chicago informing CPS students about its school board? Zines for teens.

2026-10-08T19:25:46+00:00

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Learning about the Chicago Board of Education just got a lot cooler — and easier — for CPS teens.

Students will be the most directly impacted by the results of the November school board elections. They also tend to be left out of the conversation, and Chalkbeat Chicago is trying to fix that.

Our goal is to inform students and inspire action — and we’ve done that by creating a zine made for the city’s teens. We need your help in spreading the word.

Created with local artist Kelly Wang, this zine teaches CPS students about what the school board does and how kids can advocate for the issues they care about in their schools. The zine is geared toward middle school- and high school-age students, but we always welcome younger students to learn, too!

The best part? Anyone can get a physical copy if they have access to a printer — whether that’s at home, at school, or at your local library. If you’re a CPS teacher, this could be a great class activity to get students civically engaged.

Below are PDFs of our zine, available in either English or Spanish.

To assemble your zine, the artist themself, Kelly Wang, has some tips!

Instructions:

Note: This zine is laid out to be printed on 8.5″ x 11″ sheets of paper, can be printed in grayscale or color. It’s meant to be folded hamburger-style (horizontally) and stapled!

Each printer is different, but if you have the option to do double-sided printing, make sure to check “flip on short edge.” If you have to manually flip the paper, make sure to flip the paper on the short edge so it’s correct! The first print page with pg. 8 and pg. 1 should be paired on the back with pg. 2 on the left and pg. 7 on the right. Definitely print one copy first to make sure the orientation is right!

If your printer has a collate option, it could be helpful and reduce the time spent to assemble the zines, but that could be a fun activity for students.

Make sure the scale is at 100% or actual size!

There is no need to trim the zine, but the original size is 5″ x 7″. If you would like to trim it, you can cut it down 0.5″ on each side.

Share your thoughts on the school board election

One of the most important parts of this zine is the student callout on the back. We want to hear from CPS students about an issue they want to see the new school board prioritize. No issue is too big or small. Just scan the QR code (or click this link) and send us your thoughts! We plan to compile student responses to publish when the new school board members are inaugurated.

Chalkbeat Chicago, in partnership with other local outlets, is also working to distribute physical copies at CPS high schools. We also are reaching out to local organizations that work with youth to print out copies and share them. If you know of a high school, local nonprofit, or small business that would be interested in distributing zines, reach out to Makiya Seminera at mseminera@chalkbeat.org.

CU Denver’s AI Hub aims to teach students and faculty about the technology

2026-10-07T23:23:39+00:00

A plain white computer room at the University of Colorado Denver will now double as a meeting space for students to learn about artificial intelligence as the college goes all in on AI at a time when universities have received pushback for adopting the technology.

Faculty plan to use the new Artificial Intelligence Hub to host lectures about AI, teach students how to use the technology, and discuss best research and innovation practices.

To Jack Clark, a 19-year-old sophomore math major who attended the hub’s opening on Wednesday, the new lab signifies CU Denver’s dedication to preparing students for a job market undergoing significant changes since AI’s introduction.

“You can’t know where it will go, but you can be prepared in how you will attack whatever will come,” Clark said. “AI is a tool at the end of the day, but for students to be able to know how to use this tool is very important.”

Nationally, AI has raised questions about its responsible use in academic settings and whether research or personal information could be at risk. Campus leaders have responded in numerous ways, including banning the use of AI in some programs or opening AI centers with goals similar to the one at CU Denver.

Karen Marrongelle, the school’s provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, said she hopes the hub will provide a safe space to learn about and experiment with AI. The school doesn’t want to limit or mandate its use in classrooms, but instructors can set their own rules.

She expects the learning that happens in the hub will help administrators to create campus policies needed in the face of the shifting technology.

“This is a place where students, staff, and faculty can come together responsibly and practically to ask questions and interrogate AI,” Marrongelle said.

The hub’s opening comes after the University of Colorado System announced a $2 million agreement in February with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu services to faculty, staff, and students across its four campuses, which includes CU Denver. Students gained access to the platform in August. Individual campuses will need to pay to extend use of the platform after the first year.

CU Denver computer science and engineering professor Farnoush Banaei-Kashani said faculty at CU Denver’s campus met in April to discuss the adoption of the AI platform. There were concerns and excitement about the announcement, he said.

From those meetings, he came to the conclusion that AI is an elephant in a pitch black room that no one fully knows what to do with in an academic setting. He said the engineering and liberal arts departments, as well as the campus information technology office, came together to create a common space to discuss AI.

The school received a grant from the Lakewood philanthropic organization Clarence V. LaGuardia Foundation to support the hub through renaming the room, providing staffing, and paying for infrastructure upgrades. The donation will be used to renovate the room.

He said the faculty is still planning events and lectures, but the goal will be to address the biggest issues facing the campus about AI.

“We think we are looking at it very, very systematically,” he said. “We want to come up with plans to get things done rather than being reactive.”

CU Denver computer sciences student Thomas Phommarath, a fourth-year student, said he will use the hub to dive deeper into AI. He also has many concerns, including about AI’s impact on the environment and art.

“There’s a lot of danger and a lot of controversy,” he said. “I can completely understand that, because it can be used for mass surveillance on a population that never really asked for it, and it can be used for decisions that require human judgment.”

Phommarath said he has high hopes. If the hub gets it right, CU Denver students and graduates learning about the technology could not only figure out how to responsibly use the technology, he said, but use it to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Voter guide 2026: Jeffco Public Schools 5A and 5B would fund salary increases, building fixes

2026-10-07T22:39:18+00:00

Jefferson County voters will be asked this November to approve two tax increases to benefit public schools. Together, the measures would raise $133 million for Jeffco Public Schools.

Ballot Issues 5A and 5B are what’s known as mill levy overrides, which are property tax increases to pay for educational programming. Jeffco voters last passed one in 2018 for $33 million.

How would the money from Ballot Issues 5A and 5B be spent?

Ballot Issue 5A would raise $73 million that would be split like this:

About $54.5 million for pay increases for teachers, principals, and school support staff. A district presentation said $15 million would be used to fund already-promised pay increases, and $39.5 million could be used for future salary boosts.
About $10 million for career and technical education classes for students.
About $8.5 million for the district’s charter schools. State law requires that school districts share mill levy override revenue with district charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run by nonprofit organizations.

Ballot Issue 5B would raise $60 million that would be split like this:

About $53 million for building maintenance projects, including repairing parking lots, replacing leaky roofs, and fixing heating and cooling systems. The funding would also be used to replace aging technology and improve school security systems.
About $7 million for the district’s charter schools.

What would Ballot Issues 5A and 5B cost taxpayers?

Property taxes would increase by about $42 per year on every $100,000 of a home’s value. For a $650,000 home, that would amount to $273 per year.

What do supporters say about Ballot Issues 5A and 5B?

Proponents say Jeffco needs this money to stave off more budget cuts and school closures.

Jeffco is the state’s second-largest district, with about 74,000 students. But its enrollment is declining, partly due to lower birth rates. Because Colorado funds its districts per student, fewer kids means fewer dollars. In addition, Jeffco voters have approved fewer mill levy overrides than other area districts, which means Jeffco can’t supplement its state funding as robustly.

Read all of Chalkbeat's 2026 election coverage

Lower salaries cause Jeffco teachers to leave, supporters say. Jeffco’s average teacher salary was $84,392 last year, state data shows, ranking it fourth out of Colorado’s five largest districts.

Jeffco’s hands-on classes are popular, but space is limited. Warren Tech, the district’s career and technical education center, has a waitlist of nearly 1,500 students.

The district’s school buildings also need maintenance. Jeffco had to cancel, delay, or dismiss school early 10 times last year because of issues such as cracked pipes or power outages, the district said.

What do opponents say about Ballot Issues 5A and 5B?

Opponents say Jefferson County taxes are high enough and more money wouldn’t improve students’ academic outcomes, according to comments submitted to Jefferson County’s ballot guide. Opponents also argue that Jeffco teachers are not poorly paid.

Enrollment declines mean Jeffco schools need less money, opponents say. And they argue that fewer students means school closures are inevitable, whether the measures pass or not.

Opponents are also skeptical about how Jeffco spent the money from the last tax increase.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Getting lots of mailers and texts about the 2026 Chicago school board election? Send them to us.

2026-10-07T21:24:48+00:00

Mailers, text messages, and campaign ads — oh my.

That type of media has probably been showing up in your mailboxes, phones, or social media feeds in the weeks ahead of Election Day for all 21 seats on Chicago’s school board.

This will be the first time Chicagoans will get to vote for every seat. As a result, lots of special interests are together spending millions of dollars on media to persuade voters to choose a specific candidate or avoid another. Chalkbeat Chicago wants to see what they are sending Chicago residents for a potential future story, and we need your help.

Send us photos, screenshots, or videos of what you have, whether that’s text messages about a candidate, a glossy mailer, or an advertisement you see on television or online.

You can email your submissions to us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org with the subject line “campaign mailers.” We won’t publish your name anywhere without your explicit permission.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Voter guide 2026: Denver Public Schools Ballot Issue 4A would pay for employee raises, career education

2026-10-07T21:22:44+00:00

A $44 million tax increase to benefit Denver Public Schools is on Denver’s ballot this November.

Ballot Issue 4A is what’s known as a mill levy override, which is a property tax increase to pay for educational programming. Denver voters last passed a mill levy override in 2020 for $32 million.

How would the money from Ballot Issue 4A be spent?

The $44 million would be split like this:

$25.8 million for employee raises. Full-time DPS employees would get a $1,750 raise. Part-time employees would get a prorated amount. The flat $1,750 would mean lower paid employees — such as bus drivers, custodians, and food service workers — would get a larger percentage raise than higher paid ones, such as teachers and principals.
$4 million for career and technical education. Denver voters passed a bond in 2024 that included $51 million to build career and technical education classrooms. The $4 million would pay for programming, equipment, and transportation for those classes.
$2.9 million to expand student mental health support.
$2 million for special education services.
$9.3 million for the district’s charter schools. State law requires that school districts share mill levy override revenue with district charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run by nonprofit organizations.

What would Ballot Issue 4A cost taxpayers?

Property taxes would increase by $11.50 for every $100,000 of a home’s value. That would equal about $72 per year for a home valued at $624,800, the median home price in the city.

What do supporters say about Ballot Issue 4A?

Proponents say Denver Public Schools needs the money to support students and teachers at a time when the school district is facing serious funding pressures.

Read all of Chalkbeat's 2026 election coverage

DPS is the state’s largest district, with about 89,000 students. But it’s experiencing declining enrollment, largely due to lower birth rates and high housing prices that push families out of the city. Because Colorado funds its school districts per student, fewer kids means fewer dollars.

The rising costs of employee health insurance and utilities are also causing financial strain for the district, and an increase in the number of students needing special education services means DPS is spending more to support them, officials said.

What do opponents say about Ballot Issue 4A?

No opponents submitted written comments for Denver’s ballot guide. But a Denver Post editorial recently urged voters to reject the measure due to infighting on the school board.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Reopening of Chicago Public Schools watchdog inquiry roils candidate’s bid for school board president

2026-10-07T17:42:18+00:00

This story was produced in partnership with Block Club Chicago. Sign up for Block Club’s newsletters here.

Just weeks before the Nov. 3 election, Hilario Dominguez, a candidate for Chicago school board president, is facing fallout after the Chicago Public Schools internal watchdog reopened an investigation into an almost decade-old allegation involving his time at a Pilsen nonprofit.

This summer, the district’s Office of the Inspector General closed an inquiry into a former nonprofit staffer’s report that a student involved with The Resurrection Project said Dominguez had made inappropriate comments to her, finding insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation. But the watchdog reopened the inquiry in recent weeks after the office was contacted by that former student, according to correspondence she shared with Chalkbeat and Block Club.

The watchdog confirmed the reopening of the investigation to Chalkbeat and Block Club but declined to comment further. The Chicago Tribune first reported the development Friday.

In an interview, the former student alleged Dominguez asked her what kind of men she likes and once lifted her off the ground, pressing her body against his in a hug in 2017, when she was a 17-year-old summer program participant at The Resurrection Project and Dominguez worked as a community organizer there. The former student, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her privacy, said that made her feel uncomfortable.

Dominguez denied the allegations and argued they were politically motivated, first emerging during his campaign for alderman in late 2018 and 2019.

“In every investigation and process, I have already answered this and the conclusion has been the same: unfounded, unsubstantiated,” Dominguez said in a Monday statement.

In an Instagram video over the weekend, he argued the allegations were a bid to sabotage his campaign for alderman by another candidate in that race and were revived this summer to sink his school board candidacy. He vowed to cooperate fully with the restarted investigation and clear his name.

Dominguez, 33, a former CPS teacher and former Chicago Teachers Union deputy political director, is the union-backed candidate in the three-way race to lead Chicago’s first fully elected school board.

At a Tuesday evening press conference, Dominguez said he sat down for an interview with the CPS watchdog that day.

“As I’ve always said, I am ready to be accountable, and I am ready to participate in every investigation,” said Dominguez, who did not take any questions.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday said he supports Dominguez because of their shared values and pledge not to close schools.

The mayor, a Chicago Teachers Union ally who appeared on the campaign trail with Dominguez Saturday, said those running for office should be held “to a higher standard.” He called on the CPS watchdog to review the allegations and complete its investigation “with great urgency.”

“I want to be emphatically clear that the OIG’s responsibility in this moment to answer questions with expediency is an imperative,” Johnson said.

The reopening of the case is now a factor in the high-stakes race for board president, in which Dominguez faces former CPS principal and current board member Jessica Biggs and attorney Victor Henderson. At least two school board candidates in other races called on Dominguez to drop out over the weekend.

In a letter to members this weekend, the union accused the CPS watchdog of violating a policy against commenting on open cases. The union said it will work to ensure due process for Dominguez, so the inquiry “does not get rushed to judgement in the press or corrupted by the politics of the moment.”

The former student also criticized the CPS watchdog in an interview with Chalkbeat and Block Club, saying she only found out about the investigation after it was closed this summer.

In an email obtained by Chalkbeat and Block Club, Christina Guarisco, an assistant inspector general in the watchdog’s Sexual Allegations Unit, told Dominguez that the office had issued a June 26 “Not Substantiated” report. According to the email, Guarisco was responding to an inquiry from Dominguez the previous day.

“The OIG did not find sufficient evidence that you engaged in sexual misconduct toward that student or any other student or minor,” Guarisco wrote.

The former student said she learned of the inquiry — apparently sparked by the complaint from the former nonprofit staffer — when her family received a letter from the CPS Office of Student Protections dated Sept. 9 informing them it had been closed.

The former student said she contacted the watchdog the day after opening the letter, and a CPS watchdog staffer told her last month the inquiry was launched in 2021. She said OIG staffers later showed her evidence the office had made multiple attempts to contact her in 2022, but she said she had not been aware of the outreach.

“I feel very angry,” she said. “How dare you not only start an investigation but conclude it without me?”

The Inspector General did not say how the inquiry started, but in early 2021, a former Local School Council member sent a copy of the Resurrection Project complaint to Dominguez and CPS officials, demanding an explanation, according to an email reviewed by Block Club and Chalkbeat.

It is not clear why the inquiry might have lasted years and concluded this summer. But the watchdog has said previously that its sexual misconduct unit — formed in 2018 after a Chicago Tribune series about sexual misconduct in CPS — has opened thousands of cases and faces a significant backlog. It’s not uncommon for the watchdog to launch misconduct investigations based on third-party tips and conduct them even if alleged victims cannot be reached or do not cooperate.

The former student sat for an interview with three OIG staffers on Sept. 22, she said.

Allegations emerged amid Dominguez’ alderman bid

In a 2018 internal Resurrection Project complaint filed by a staff member at the time and later obtained by Chalkbeat and Block Club, the staff member wrote that a participant in a 2017 summer program had approached her, alleging Dominguez had asked about her dating life, commented on her physical appearance, and offered her rides home. The staff member told her supervisors, and it was her understanding that a higher-up at the nonprofit had spoken with Dominguez, according to the complaint.

But the issue resurfaced during the summer of 2018, around the time Dominguez launched a campaign for 25th Ward alderman. The staffer said she had run into the former summer program participant at a Resurrection Project event. Afterwards, according to the complaint, the former staffer was approached by a leader at the nonprofit to assure her he had spoken with Dominguez about that situation, and that it wasn’t “the first time he had to have a talk with Hilario about his behavior around young women.”

At that point, she decided to file a written complaint, she wrote.

In the interview with Chalkbeat and Block Club, the former student alleged she recalled two experiences with Dominguez she said made her uncomfortable. Neither was included in the staffer complaint. On one occasion, the former student claimed she was delivering supplies with Dominguez in his car when he asked her what kinds of guys she likes to date.

“He was a figure of authority that I trusted … and that was really alarming,” she said. “It shifted the entire mood for me.”

Later, she said she ran into him in a hallway at the nonprofit and he allegedly embraced her by the waist, lifted her off the ground and spun her.

“I had never experienced a grown man ever pressing my body against his like that,” she said in the interview. “I felt very, very uncomfortable.”

Another former Resurrection Project staff member who asked for anonymity for privacy concerns said they recall learning about the concerns brought up by the student and telling another staff member that the situation needed to be reported.

The former CPS student said after she spoke with the nonprofit staffer who wrote the internal complaint, any concerning behavior stopped.

But during the 25th Ward aldermanic race, a social media post about her allegations was circulated without naming her. As the allegations spread amid the race, she said she felt distraught because she had shared her experience in confidence.

The former student said she decided to share her experience after learning of the CPS watchdog investigation.

“My priority is sharing my experience and from my narrative,” she said.

In his weekend Instagram video, Dominguez said he had been prepared to confront the allegations head on.

“I knew what big money-backed opponents would do when they want to stop your campaign, and I’ve been ready for it,” he said.

At the Tuesday evening press conference, he accused Aida Flores, a CPS assistant principal who ran against him for alderman in 2019 and is running again this fall, of trying to “weaponize these rumors.”

In a statement late Tuesday, Flores said she was not involved in surfacing the allegations, calling the charge an attempt to “deflect from responsibility.”

The Resurrection Project declined to answer questions about Dominguez, saying that the only information it could provide are his dates of employment and his last position held.

This story was updated to include a comment from Chicago’s mayor.

Block Club Chicago’s Quinn Myers contributed.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org. Francia Garcia Hernandez covers Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards for Block Club Chicago. Contact Francia at francia@blockclubchi.org.

How to vet NYC public schools like an education reporter: What parents should consider

2026-10-07T09:00:00+00:00

Unlike most other places in the nation, New York City families have to apply for schools at every level of their education, starting in kindergarten.

The choices can be overwhelming. The nation’s largest school system has about 670 elementary and 140 K-8 schools, roughly 250 standalone middle schools and nearly 90 6-12 schools, and more than 400 high schools with 700 programs. There are also 286 charter schools.

Parents often make decisions based on their values, sense of a school’s academic quality, their children’s needs, and logistics. Some might want a school with a lot of hands-on work, a strong music program, or one that emphasizes student leadership. After-school options might be a priority, and sometimes even specific offerings, such as debate or chess. For some families, proximity to home is crucial.

But once you decide what’s important, how do you narrow down your list?

School officials put out a lot of public information, but where should you look? Which data is really important? If you visit, what should you ask?

At Chalkbeat New York and The City Reporter, it’s our jobs to know how the system works and report on the biggest issues facing schools and students. Education professionals, experts, and journalists can point to potential red flags, as well as certain qualities that parents could overlook.

In this guide, we’ll share what we know to help parents and guardians make informed decisions.

We’re also leading a live workshop on what’s in this guide for all New Yorkers who want to dive deeper, which you can attend in person or remotely. Want to join? Sign up here.

Ready to get started? Here’s what you need to know to vet a public school like a reporter.

The big ones: Where to look for potential red flags

Do teachers trust their principals?

Where to find it: NYC School Survey

Results from an annual school survey given to New York City parents, middle and high school students, and teachers offer a trove of information and helps you peer a bit into what’s happening under the surface. One data point, in particular, is often a proxy for how well a school is run: teacher-principal trust.

Nearly 67,000 teachers filled out the survey in spring 2026 and, overall, 87% of them felt positively about their principals. But drilling down on the school level can often reveal whether there’s strong and effective leadership, or tensions are bubbling up — issues that could spill over into the classroom, even if they might not be visible to families on school visits.

For example, at Brooklyn’s P.S. 307 — the school whose academic failings journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones captured in her essay about the choices she made for daughter — teachers clearly indicated some serious issues with their principal. In 2023, just 12% of teacher respondents said they felt “the principal/school leader at this school is an effective manager who makes the school run smoothly.”

The school has since gotten a new principal, and now 85% of the surveyed teachers felt the principal is effective.

Would teachers recommend the school?

Where to find it: NYC School Survey

Teachers know whether their school is functioning well, so you should check their response — also in the annual school survey — to the question about whether they would recommend the school to parents seeking a place for their child.

While 95% of teachers at nearly 540 city schools responding to the survey would recommend their schools to families, there were 56 schools where half or more of the respondents would not recommend their schools. That should raise concerns.

But larger factors can negatively skew this response, said Laura Zingmond, senior editor at InsideSchools, a free resource that offers nuanced reviews of schools across the city.

“There’s always an asterisk with that,” she said, “If you have a new principal ... or whenever there’s a new initiative out, there’s always a dip.”

Are students showing up to class?

Where to find it: The city has annual data on attendance and chronic absenteeism rates.

If large numbers of students aren’t showing up regularly, that could raise questions about how well a school is engaging them. Sometimes when students don’t attend, their peers might feel less compelled to come to school, and teachers have to grapple with how to catch everyone up. When Chalkbeat investigated Murry Bergtraum, we looked closely at the chronic absenteeism rate and found that about three-quarters of students missed 10% of the school year.

There are some groups of students who face structural challenges that make it harder for them to come to class regularly, such as students who live in shelters or students with disabilities who rely on the city’s notoriously troubled busing system. But there are also schools that try everything they can to get kids to class.

Key data points to understand a school

Is the school helping students grow academically?

Where to find it: The school quality report dashboard. Take a look at the “impact and performance” chart at the top. Also, the state Education Department website includes lots of granular breakdowns for raw test scores but can take time to update with the latest numbers. Chalkbeat has an annual searchable database.

Test scores are often one of the first ways parents gauge school quality.

Students in grades 3-8 take annual state tests in reading and math. High school students take a series of state Regents exams in several subjects, though those tests are in the middle of a major overhaul and are being phased out as a graduation requirement.

But overall proficiency doesn’t tell you how well a school is helping its students learn — and is strongly correlated with a school’s demographics. Schools that serve students who are far behind, enroll many children who are learning English or live in temporary housing may help students make substantial progress even if their test scores are low.

Meanwhile, many New York City middle and high schools primarily admit students who already have strong academic records. High test scores at those campuses may not reveal much about the quality of the academic program.

So how can families get a sense of a school’s effect on student learning? A handy Education Department dashboard includes an “impact” calculation for each school. That metric attempts to show the effect a school has on student learning, while taking into account factors such as incoming students’ test scores (at least, in middle and high school), family poverty rates, disability status, and more.

Extra credit: For high school, Zingmond of InsideSchools suggests looking at the school quality snapshot to see how many students take advanced courses. For career and technical education schools, be sure to check how many students actually get CTE certifications. Instead of focusing on a school’s graduation rate, she advises families to look at a school’s College and Career Readiness, or CCR, rate, which takes into account how students do after four years at the school in terms of their grades, advanced courses completed, and certifications earned for CTE schools.

How does a school spend its money?

Where to find it: See a school’s per-pupil budget using the Education Department’s “Budget at a Glance” tool. A further breakdown can be found on a school’s Galaxy budget spending report. (To search, you’ll need a school’s four-digit code, which is a letter followed by three numbers you can find on the school’s official DOE page.)

Some parents might want to get under the hood and see how a school is spending its money. School budgets are largely based on enrollment, with additional dollars to serve those in poverty, with disabilities, and learning English.

Looking deeper into the budget, using the Galaxy budget spending reports, you can see whether a school employs a full-time librarian or art teachers. You can see whether the school has speech or occupational therapists on staff. You can also see the number of counselors and social workers. Teachers’ salaries, which are included in the budget, can give you some indication of how experienced the staff is. (Additionally, the school quality snapshot shows the percentage of teachers with more than three years of experience.)

A higher per-pupil budget doesn’t necessarily mean students are getting more resources. Smaller schools have had their budgets propped up by recent city policies that haven’t penalized them for falling enrollment. For example, at Murry Bergtraum, the city’s smallest traditional high school, the school received more than $46,000 per student last year. That’s roughly twice the citywide average, but the school isn’t able to offer the full complement of courses for a well-rounded high school experience.

And finally, there’s the money the school brings in outside of its city budget, often from parent fundraising, which can pay for enrichment programs, supplies, or staff outside of core academic subjects.

You can check how much your school’s PTA reported raising here.

Extra credit: If you’re interested in diving deeper into how the city determined a school’s funding, start here.

What does enrollment look like?

Where to find it: New York City’s annual demographic snapshot gives you the past five years of enrollment and demographic data. If you want to go back even further, check out the state Education Department’s school report cards.

More and more schools are underenrolled as the city’s student population shrinks.

Some families prefer small schools because their children might get more attention or have smaller class sizes. But if a school has been shrinking, it’s worth trying to understand why. Is it because it’s not performing well, or because the school-age population in the neighborhood is shrinking?

Also, in New York City’s highly segregated school system, schools can look a lot different from neighborhood to neighborhood, depending on who lives there — or even within the same neighborhood, depending on a school’s admissions policies. There can be segregation within schools, especially when they host programs like gifted and talented. You can find demographic data on the performance dashboard for a school, and you can dig into the specific breakdowns of special programs here.

Extra credit: Want to see if your school is bursting at the seams, or has classrooms that are mostly empty? Check out school capacity data from the School Construction Authority. And how about how crowded each classroom is? Check out class sizes here.

What about charter schools?

Where to find it: The New York City Charter School Center maintains a database of charter schools, including their demographics and test scores. The state’s Education Department also has a directory that includes financial statements, annual reports, and links to reports from the organizations that authorize each charter school and review their performance.

Charter schools are publicly funded and educate about 16% of the city’s public school students, but they operate differently than city-run district schools and have a separate admissions process. They are overseen by independent boards and have more freedom to set their own schedules, policies, and staffing.

In addition to many of the factors worth looking at for district schools — including academic growth, enrollment trends, and school survey results — it is worth looking at reports that are issued by the government entities that oversee each school, known as authorizers.

Charter schools must be renewed every few years, and their authorizers issue public reports that can reveal whether a school is serving its students well and if there are any red flags. The state Education Department directory often links to those reports, though you may have to dig a bit in some cases with each authorizer. (The State University of New York is the most common authorizer, but the state’s Board of Regents and New York City Education Department both oversee a chunk of charters.)

Since charter schools have more autonomy to set their own policies, it’s worth checking school websites to learn more. It’s also worth asking about their approach to homework, special education services, and student discipline.

Good to know, but ask more questions

Is a school providing mandated special education services?

Where to find it: School quality reports list, under the “instruction and performance” tab, the percentage of students with disabilities receiving the services they are entitled to. The city also publishes information on how accessible each school building is for people with physical disabilities.

New York City public schools are required to serve students with disabilities, but their services and class sizes can differ. School quality reports provide some useful, though limited, information. They show whether a school is complying with students’ individualized education programs, or IEPs.

Compliance rates, however, should be interpreted cautiously. The city counts students as having received required services as long as they get them at some point in the year, which may obscure delays or interruptions.

Special education advocates recommend talking directly to school staff to get a feel for the school’s approach. Families may want to ask how teachers modify instruction, whether the school has experience serving students with needs similar to their child’s, and if it can provide everything required by the IEP.

“You can tell a lot by how someone talks,” said Kim Madden, the director of family support at Advocates for Children, which helps caregivers navigate the special education system.

Extra credit: Families can use the city’s class size reports to see what special education class sizes and staffing ratios a school has offered in the past. For example, if your child’s IEP calls for a 12-student class with a paraprofessional or a class that includes nondisabled students, the reports can show whether the school has experience offering that type of program. To find that information, open the “school” or “district” spreadsheets, then use the “K-5 Counts” or “MS HS Counts” tabs and filter by “program type.”

What does a school’s suspension rate look like?

Where to find it: The city Education Department’s suspension reports, which include school and citywide data.

Suspension statistics can offer clues about a school’s climate and approach to discipline but are unlikely to tell the full story. A school with a high suspension rate may have a particularly strict approach to student discipline, experience more frequent classroom disruptions, or rely more heavily on removing students from classrooms rather than using alternative methods of conflict resolution.

Still, a low suspension rate does not necessarily guarantee a disruption-free school environment. Some educators contend policy moves to reduce the number of suspensions can make it harder to deter disruptive behavior.

Other measures of school climate are worth considering alongside suspension data, including what teachers and students say on school surveys about safety and whether they feel supported.

Dig deeper: What to look for on a school visit

Once you have a shortlist, you should try and visit those schools to get a stronger sense of whether it’s a fit for your family.

“What is the ‘vibe’ of the school? Is the security guard welcoming? What about the front office staff?” asked Pamela Wheaton, a co-founder of InsideSchools, who now consults on admissions through School Scout NYC.

Every school has a parent coordinator on staff who typically serves as a bridge between families and schools and can be your first point of contact when you have questions during application season.

Obviously, schools don’t want to be inundated with queries, but how — or even if — they answer might indicate how responsive they are.

If you visit, Wheaten advises parents of elementary school-age kids to look at the art on the wall to see what kinds of projects children are doing and whether it’s original artwork or mass produced worksheets. For middle school, she likes to see whether students are collaborating on projects or whether schools offer an advisory period, which is a dedicated time during the week to work on social emotional well-being.

For high school, she suggests looking at bulletin boards listing clubs and upcoming activities.

Here are some other questions to keep in mind as you think about or visit a school, or talk to other parents:

What is the homework policy? And how much time is devoted to test prep?

Parents might have different opinions on homework — as do schools. Some elementary and even middle schools might have no homework. Often homework can vary from class to class, and it likely increases for more advanced classes. Some high schools have been trying to rein in homework — Stuyvesant High School, for instance, limits homework to 30 minutes a night per class. (But what might take one student 30 minutes might take another 15 minutes and another an hour.) It’s good to talk with current families about what homework looks like at a particular school. Schools often post their student handbooks online, which might tell you more about a school’s homework policy.

And parents might have different takes on test prep. Some schools pride themselves on offering extra time to help kids prepare for standardized tests, including Saturday academies. Other schools don’t spend much time on test prep.

What does recess look like? And screen time?

Schools are not required to publicly post their recess policies, and while there’s no requirement for recess, the Education Department’s wellness policy “strongly recommends” that elementary schools offer at least 20 minutes of recess for all students “on all or most days during the school year.” (It doesn’t include any recommendations for middle or high school.) And families, in recent years, have increasingly complained about their kids watching screens during recess instead of going outside.

Is vaping an issue?

Middle and high school parents often are concerned about vaping on campus. It’s unlikely that school staffers will admit to that during a school tour, but the 2026 school survey, for the first time, asked students about vaping. (You can find this listed under “additional questions” in a school’s student survey results.)

What’s the school’s ratio of guidance counselors to students?

Guidance counselors often wear many hats. They not only address students’ social emotional well-being and work with children who are mandated for extra support, they also support students who are about to graduate. So having an accessible guidance counselor tends to be a big help.

Experts recommend a ratio of 250 students per counselor — and even fewer students per counselor for high-needs schools. New York City’s Education Department is required to share data every year of the number of guidance counselors (and social workers) at each school, and the ratio of counselors to students.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Rachel Holliday Smith is managing editor at The City Reporter leading explanatory and service journalism in the newsroom. Contact Rachel at rsmith@thecityreporter.nyc.

U.S. Department of Education investigating school districts’ handling of sexual misconduct claims

2026-10-06T22:08:59+00:00

The U.S. Department of Education is opening multiple investigations into the handling of staff-on-student sexual misconduct claims in school districts nationwide, including the New York City Department of Education and Jeffco Public Schools in Colorado.

Department officials in a press release Tuesday said the new slate investigations by the Office for Civil Rights is designed to crack down on so-called “pass the trash” practices, in which school district inaction and loopholes in state laws across the country have allowed educators accused of misconduct to teach elsewhere.

The agency also announced investigations into school districts in California, Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri, Texas, and Virginia.

A set of investigations the department announced in July are also a part of this effort. The agency has cited troubling allegations of sexual abuse and harassment involving schools, including reporting by ProPublica that found 67 instances where California did not revoke credentials from educators found to have committed harassment or misconduct in school investigations.

Some of the investigations involve districts like Jeffco, in Colorado’s Jefferson County, and the Los Angeles Unified School District that the Trump administration has targeted in probes over more-partisan issues, such as the inclusion of transgender students in sports.

“By opening these investigations, our message is clear: we will always protect our children so parents should never have to wonder if their kids are safe at school,” said Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for civil rights, in the press release.

It’s unclear what specific allegations prompted the Education Department to open these cases. The agency’s press releases cites reporting on New York from The 74 that found nearly 2,000 complaints filed under the state’s Child Victims Act accusing school staff members of sexual abuse, though that figure includes private schools and public schools across New York’s 62 counties, not just New York City.

“We take allegations of abuse very seriously,” wrote Nicole Brownstein, a spokeswoman for NYC Public Schools, in an email to Chalkbeat. “If an allegation arises, we immediately take steps to provide support for the student, refer the case to the appropriate investigatory body, and pursue disciplinary action. We are reviewing the Department’s complaint.”

Jeffco Public Schools, the second-largest district in Colorado, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Chalkbeat. The NYC and Jeffco districts were the only ones identified by name in the Education Department’s Tuesday press release.

In recent years, several Jeffco school employees — including a former school social worker, a former after-school program employee, and a former high school security guard — have been convicted of sexually abusing students, leading to outrage in the community and calls for better oversight. A former top district official was found to have bought child pornography, but an investigation didn’t find evidence of inappropriate direct contact with juveniles.

The Jeffco district separately has been under federal scrutiny for its policies that support of transgender students. In an ongoing lawsuit, the district is suing the Trump administration to prevent the Education Department from withholding $50 million in federal funding over such policies.

The new Title IX probes come a week after the Trump administration formally reinstated 2020 rules governing education civil rights law. Advocates for survivors of campus sexual assault decried the move, which they say includes provisions that will make it more difficult for victims to prove their case, while supporters of the change said it would treat such allegations with appropriate seriousness.

Lily Altavena is a national reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Lily at laltavena@chalkbeat.org. Lily is on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

What happened when Boston students were bused to suburban schools?

2026-10-06T20:19:06+00:00

The phrase “Boston busing” connotes violent clashes and bitter opposition to school integration in the 1970s. Yet over the last several decades the Boston area has been undertaking a remarkable — and it turns out remarkably successful — experiment in school integration.

The still-operating program, known as Metco, buses a few thousand mostly Black and Hispanic students from Boston to a number of mostly white suburban schools.

Now Tufts University economist Elizabeth Setren is out with a newly published study tracking the long-run effects of Metco. Participating students’ test scores rose modestly, and their chances of completing high school and college increased dramatically, compared to similar students who applied to the program but didn’t get in. College graduation rates went from 26% to 38%. The program also boosted students’ annual incomes by several thousand dollars when they became adults.

Metco, in short, proved educationally and economically transformational for many. Big effects like these are not common in education research. For that reason alone, they’re worth trying to learn from, even if we know that outsize gains are inevitably hard to replicate.

To better understand these findings, I spoke with Setren about her study and its implications. I was especially interested in understanding what drove the success of Metco. Was it higher-quality instruction, a more integrated school environment, classes with higher-achieving peers, the opportunity to choose a better school, support for selecting a good college — or all of the above?

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you personally get interested in studying Metco?

I went to a high school that was the English language learner magnet for my large county in Baltimore, and it brought up a lot of fascinating policy issues. What does it look like to have a very diverse schoolhouse, but that’s also not integrated when it comes to the classes themselves?

How does participating in Metco change the students’ experience in school?

Their class size on average is about two students smaller. They are in classes with much higher-performing peers [overall], but they are also in the lower-performing classes [within their school]. They have long bus rides. There is a difference in the ability to participate in after-school activities. In high school, Metco students are in schools with many more AP class options, but they’re not taking AP classes at a higher rate. They are less likely to get suspended and their attendance rate is higher.

They are also more likely to be identified for special education, right?

Yes, and it’s hard to interpret without knowing more — is that a good thing or a bad thing? It could be that now they’re getting services they need to succeed. Or you could be concerned about racial bias in classification.

The test score effects you find are meaningful but not eye-popping. Whereas the college completion effects are some of the largest I’ve seen in the literature.

Yeah, that’s also my take. It’s very rare to see an intervention years later still have this large of an effect on something like college enrollment, persistence, and graduation. I also study the charter schools in Boston. There are larger test score effects, but there are much more mixed findings for college going and graduation.

We can’t really say with a ton of confidence what is actually leading to these gains, except for the general package of experience that is being in the Metco program. Metco is most effective for people who are less likely to have college knowledge at home and where the school they would have gone to otherwise had worse college outcomes.

Is it plausible that the biggest benefits from Metco came through who you go to school with, rather than the type of education you get at the school you attend?

It’s very hard to tease that apart. If we think of what happens with Metco, it’s dramatically changing the type of school you go to. It’s shifting the type of peers you have. It’s shifting the type of teachers you have. To me it’s something about the shift in college expectations or maybe the peers, but it’s hard to disentangle.

What do you see when you’re looking at the effects on suburban schools and students?

I find no evidence of any negative test score effect, and I find no evidence of spillover behavioral effects. Students aren’t getting suspended at a higher rate, and also students aren’t in a classroom where there’s more suspension or more tardiness or lower attendance.

Have you examined how the program has affected students’ attitudes or subjective well-being?

So I have ongoing work, not released yet, looking at some of the more social and civic longer-run impacts of Metco.

What are the policy implications of this work?

Districts and school systems across the country are doing some form of racial or socioeconomic integration, so we can learn from this. In this scenario, students went from a setting where college-going is not [the norm] to a place where it’s very common. I’ve heard Metco alums say they went from the question being, “Do you want to go to college?” to “Where are you going to college?”

Matt Barnum is Chalkbeat’s ideas editor. Reach him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：全市主席竞选

2026-10-06T19:52:53+00:00

阅读英文版｜阅读西班牙文版

本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

芝加哥首次举行全市教育委员会主席选举，这场竞选具备政治角力的诸多元素：数百万美元的竞选捐款、特殊利益团体的支持，以及一名候选人退选。

11月3日，全市选民将在三名候选人中选出领导该机构的主席。随着芝加哥结束30多年的由市长控制教育委员会的制度，主席将首次由选民直接选举产生。

这一职位拥有实权，但无薪酬。主席代表教育委员会对外发声、主持会议，并协助制定议程。未来四年，主席将与其他20名委员共同为CPS制定愿景和目标。

前芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）政治事务副主任Hilario Dominguez曾毕业于CPS学校，也曾在CPS工作。他以进步派政策主张参选，其中包括将学前教育扩大到所有3岁儿童，并要求州政府增加教育经费，而不是削减开支。CTU正在为Dominguez的竞选提供大量资金支持。该工会正试图维持其对教育委员会的影响力。前工会组织者Brandon Johnson于2023年当选芝加哥市长后，CTU支持的阵营取得了教育委员会的控制权。

Jessica Biggs曾担任CPS校长，目前是教育委员会委员。她希望优先确保财政稳定，并为每一名学生提供高质量教育。她获得进步派工会Service Employees International Union Local 73（SEIU Local 73）的支持。该工会主要代表CPS中薪资较低的非裔和拉丁裔工作人员，目前与CTU存在激烈分歧。

Biggs还获得了商界人士和曾在前市长Rahm Emanuel政府任职的前政府官员支持，其中包括前CPS首席执行官Janice Jackson和前教育事务副市长Beth Swanson。

律师Victor Henderson是Urban Prep特许学校董事会成员。他的竞选重点是提高学生学业成绩和加强财政责任。他向自己的竞选活动贷款50万美元，因此触发了取消竞选捐款上限的规定。他还获得两名非裔国会议员、知名律师以及芝加哥南区和西区多所大型非裔教会牧师的支持，其中包括St. Sabina的Michael Pfleger和Apostolic Church of God的Byron Brazier。

领导力顾问Sendhil Revuluri曾在前市长Lori Lightfoot执政期间担任教育委员会委员，他在9月30日宣布退选。他的竞选承诺是重点关注学生学习和社区参与。他也主张教育委员会应该独立于CTU。CTU是一个具有强大影响力的工会，代表约3万名教师和其他CPS工作人员，并以高度关注社会正义议题而闻名。

第五名候选人Jennifer Custer曾是一名教育工作者，也是现任教育委员会委员。她于8月底退出竞选。

所有候选人都表示，他们参选是希望CPS能够更好地服务学生和家庭。但他们采取的方法有很大不同：Biggs希望重点改善教育委员会的运作；Revuluri希望让学区最高领导人对工作成效承担更多责任；Henderson希望以局外人的视角处理预算危机和特许学校经费等问题；Dominguez则提出了一些规模较大的计划，例如增加青年就业、带薪实习和导师项目的机会。

面对学区学生人数持续下降，只有Dominguez明确排除关闭学校的可能性。不过，其他候选人表示，如果考虑合并学校，他们会与社区合作并谨慎推进。

Henderson会考虑开设更多由私人运营的特许学校，并希望这些学校获得更多支持，而其他候选人则主张进一步审查现有特许学校。

在通往Henderson市中心办公室的走廊墙上，挂满了他曾代理的客户的新闻报道。作为一名知名刑事辩护律师，他代理过的客户包括：曾被指控涉嫌伪造种族主义袭击事件的演员Jussie Smollett；因逃税被定罪的市议员William Beavers；被取消美国世界大赛冠军头衔的Jackie Robinson West Little League；以及一名在被地方学校理事会（Local School Council，LSC）免职后提起诉讼的CPS校长。

Henderson是这场竞选中唯一没有教育工作经历的候选人。不过，他四个已经成年的孩子都曾就读于Beverly的CPS小学和选拔录取制高中。

Henderson不仅是一名律师，也曾是一名注册会计师。他表示，自己能够阅读合同、理解预算，并应对具有强大影响力的利益团体。

“教育委员会需要由不同背景的人适当组合而成，”他说。“需要有家长，需要有校长，需要有社区成员，但也需要有律师，或许还需要医生。”

Henderson表示，他是在加入自己所称的Urban Prep特许学校“重建董事会”后，产生了竞选教育委员会主席的想法。

2023年，当时的教育委员会正试图关闭这个特许学校网络。此前，CPS监察长发现该组织存在“糟糕”的财务管理问题，包括部分支出去向不明、采用高利率贷款以及需要预支现金。Urban Prep的创办人兼前首席执行官最近被控从该组织挪用超过10万美元。

Henderson认为Urban Prep的问题源于管理层的糟糕表现，但他说，试图关闭这个几乎全部服务非裔男生的特许学校网络是错误的。Urban Prep官员表示，在非裔男生的学业表现上，他们取得的成绩要优于学区直接运营的学校，而这一学生群体的学业表现历来落后于其他群体。

“不能让这些学生及其家庭为此（关闭学校）买单。”

Henderson曾与一群非裔男性一起集会支持Urban Prep。该校随后起诉CPS，并获准继续运营两所学校。

Henderson表示，CPS需要更好地支持特许学校。他支持特许学校运营机构从CPS获得更多经费。

Henderson表示，他将要求对CPS进行法务审计。如果审计结果显示CPS需要增加收入，他说自己具备前往Springfield（伊州首府）向州政府争取资金的能力。

他说，自己想投身公共服务，是因为非常在乎教育。

“受过教育的男性更有可能结婚、组建家庭。你也会对自己感觉更好，”他说。“数据显示，一般而言，受教育程度越高，收入也越高。教育真的能够改变一个人的人生。”

阅读Henderson填写的完整候选人问卷。

教育委员会委员Jessica Biggs表示，她去年领导了学区最高领导人的遴选工作，这段经历促使她竞选主席。

Biggs表示，在经过她所称的“真正”收集社区意见的过程后，她成功让所有教育委员会委员都认可了学区总监的职位说明。

“所以这让我看到，如果有领导力，我们可以做到什么，”她说。

然而，在候选人名单曝光且其中一人退出后，整个遴选过程陷入瘫痪。Biggs表示，她认为这是由教育委员会内部的政治分歧造成的。这让她非常沮丧，以至于她决定不再竞选普通委员席位。

“有些时候，我非常希望某些事情能够向前推进，或者提交公开表决，但我没办法做到，”Biggs说。

Biggs意识到，如果要产生自己寻求的影响力，就需要在制定委员会议程方面发挥主导作用。而实现这一点的办法就是竞选教育委员会主席。

“如果我要继续把时间投入这个委员会，”Biggs说，“对我来说，拥有这样的权力非常重要。”

Biggs在Wheaton长大，目前居住在Douglas。她有一个女儿，目前就读于一所公立艺术特色学校。

在2024年的选举中，Biggs是三名在没有CTU和Illinois Network of Charter Schools等有重量级利益团体支持下当选的委员之一。尽管对手的竞选支出远高于她，她仍以约45%的得票率赢得选举。

选举当晚，她表示，自己觉得选民希望教育委员会中有独立的委员。“我真的感受到了满满的爱与支持，”她说。

她目前在西南区社区组织Southwest Organizing Project工作，参与为学校社区连接各种服务的项目。

2018年，Biggs被解除南区一所小学的校长职务。此前，一份监察长报告认定，她曾指示工作人员，即使学生缺席了当天大部分课程，也要将他们记录为迟到；同时还让工作人员在没有取得家长书面许可的情况下，开私家车接送学生。

她随后被列入CPS的“不得聘用”（Do Not Hire）名单。她在多次要求从名单中移除均遭拒绝后，终于在去年被移出该名单。Biggs一直认为，她被解雇是出于政治原因。

在担任教育委员会委员的两年中，她反对过一些由市长任命委员以及与CTU立场一致的委员推动的重要措施。去年，她坚持反对通过借贷来避免削减开支。今年夏天，她又投票反对一项预算修正案。该修正案假设州政府将向CPS提供更多资金以减少裁员。

与两年前竞选时相比，她对关闭学校问题的立场有所变化。当时她选择“反对”，而在今年的候选人问卷中，她没有回答这一问题。她表示，这个问题并不存在简单的“是”或“否”的答案。

“我认为这是一个虚假的二元选择，”Biggs说。“学区里有些地方，小型学校能够满足孩子们的需求；但也有些地方，我们目前在学校里提供的服务无法满足孩子们的需求。”

阅读Biggs填写的完整候选人问卷。

对于CTU会支持谁竞选教育委员会主席的猜测持续数月后，该工会最终选择支持组织内部的一名前工作人员Dominguez。Dominguez在启动竞选活动前已经离开CTU。

Dominguez表示，他并不回避自己多年来作为工会坚定支持者的经历。他是所有主席候选人中唯一曾全职担任CPS教师的人，他的配偶也是学区的一名副校长。

Dominguez表示，自己对教育议题的倡导可以追溯到就读Whitney Young 磁石高中时期。2010年，他曾组织学生罢课，抗议预算削减。

Dominguez来自Pilsen社区，曾在西南区担任特殊教育教师。他曾离开教学岗位两年，专注参与政治竞选活动，其中包括一次未能成功的市议员竞选。

后来，他参与组织了2019年持续11天的教师罢工。当时，他与其他工会成员在烂尾的Lincoln Yards大型开发项目办公室举行静坐抗议，并因此被捕。针对他和其他人的非法侵入指控后来被撤销。

2022年开始全职为CTU工作后，Dominguez还参与了Johnson成功当选市长的竞选活动，并参与2024年获得CTU支持的教育委员会候选人的竞选。当年，工会轻松在竞选开支上压制了资金雄厚的支持择校权团体，并帮助其支持的候选人在九场竞争激烈的角逐中赢下三场。

Dominguez表示，多年来自己已前往Springfield游说100多次，“比我所有对手加起来还多”。不过，到目前为止，争取州政府大幅增加学校经费的努力并未取得预期成果。

Dominguez表示，如果当选主席，他将努力让更多家庭参与游说，并动员全州各学区共同争取资金。

他提议通过与私人托儿中心和家庭日托机构合作，为全市所有3岁儿童提供免费的全日制学前教育。他表示，这项转变将推动经济发展、增加学区入学人数，并通过减轻托儿费用负担来“真正帮助家庭”。

Dominguez的其他优先事项也与CTU的主张高度一致。他表示，将推动改善学校食堂餐食质量，并继续扩大“可持续社区学校”（Sustainable Community Schools）项目。

他坚决反对关闭任何学校，并认为学区和市政府应该利用那些“所谓使用不足的学校”中的闲置空间，引入医疗诊所和图书馆分馆等服务。

“当我们谈论入学人数不足的学校时，我们应该明确，我们主要谈论的是黑人和棕色人种社区里的黑人和棕色人种学生。他们应该得到更多投资，而不是受到惩罚，”他说。

2021年，一名教师同事曾对Dominguez提出投诉，称Dominguez做出纳粹敬礼手势、在学生面前称其为希特勒，并质疑该教师的性取向。该投诉后来被撤回。

Dominguez称这项投诉“毫无根据”，并表示自己当时是在反对一名不尊重学生的种族主义同事。

阅读Dominguez填写的完整候选人问卷。

编者注：本文在教育委员会主席候选人森迪尔·雷武卢里（Sendhil Revuluri）于9月30日退选后进行了更新。您仍可阅读他完整的问卷回复。

Mila Koumpilova 是 Chalkbeat Chicago 负责报道芝加哥公立学校事务的资深记者，联系邮箱：mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org。Sarah Karp 负责 WBEZ 的教育新闻报道，联系邮箱：skarp@wbez.org。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：西区8b选区选情

2026-10-06T19:52:17+00:00

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本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

芝加哥警察局资深警探兼本地咖啡店店主Juan Ignacio González，正迎战在读大学生Alexander Angeles，角逐8B选区的代表席位。该选区狭长，从市中心的the Loop一直向西南延伸至Chicago Lawn。

Angeles于 8 月底以海选自填候选人（write-in candidate）的身份加入了这场选战。今年夏季早些时候，由于现任委员、Brandon Johnson市长任命的Cydney Wallace的提名文件签名受到质疑，州选举机构将她从选票上除名。

住在Back of the Yards的González表示，他在听到一些家长担忧学生在五一国际劳动节被当作“政治棋子”后，决定竞选教育委员会席位。此前，芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）和芝加哥公立学校（CPS）曾就是否为了示威活动而停课进行过一番讨论，最终双方达成协议，决定5月1日学校照常开放，同时允许开展公民行动。

“家长们谈到我们面临的一些挑战和较低的学业标准……这些问题我也认同，”他说。“我觉得，在我的社区里，那些往往无法投票或不属于政治体系的人没有人替他们发声。有人请我考虑参选，我了解了情况后，觉得自己可以帮助社区里的孩子。”

Angeles刚从CPS毕业，目前就读于伊州大学芝加哥分校（UIC）政治学专业。他表示，自己站出来参选是想代表学生发声，因为他觉得这恰恰是当前教育委员会所缺少的。

González自1999年以来一直在芝加哥警察局任职。根据Civic Police Data Project（CPDP）汇总的公开记录，在此期间，公众曾对他提出25项不当行为指控，所有指控最终均被认定为不成立。

2013年，时年21岁的Hernan Barron指控González在一次逮捕过程中，用警用SUV将他顶在一家肉类加工厂的墙上。Barron腿部出现一处小的穿刺伤，并被送往医院接受治疗。记录显示，芝加哥警察局内部调查根据视频证据认定González不存在不当行为。

同年晚些时候，Barron向联邦法院起诉González和芝加哥市政府，要求就其身体伤害及精神痛苦获得赔偿。根据CPDP的资料，芝加哥市政府后来以98,000美元与Barron达成和解。

“在芝加哥警察局工作近27年来，我参与了数千起涉及芝加哥最严重犯罪的调查——从谋杀、枪击到性侵以及其他暴力犯罪，”González在一份通过电子邮件发送的声明中说。“我的公共安全和社区服务记录，不是通过一个网络数据库就能够得到全面了解的。它来自近27年来为芝加哥服务，以及继续在这个我称之为家的社区里生活、工作、投资和服务。”

“我住在这里。我走在这些街道上。我在这里拥有并经营一家企业，”González说。“我认识这里的家庭、居民和企业主，大家也知道，当他们需要帮助或建议时，可以来找我。”

“那起事件发生的地点，对于理解我是怎样的人也很重要，”他补充说。“事发地点距离我现在的住处大约四个街区，距离我的咖啡店六个街区。这里并不仅仅是我被派来工作的地方。这是我的社区。”

2025年，González在Back of the Yards的西47街开设了DreamCatcher Café。

除了这家咖啡店，根据公开记录，González还在西南区拥有十多处房产。González在2023年接受一个房地产播客采访时表示，自己从小就和家人一起参与建筑翻修，后来开始独立购买和翻修房产。

“在一个经历过严重暴力问题的社区里服务和投资，会面临人身和财务上的风险，”González在声明中说。“我选择承担这些风险，是因为我相信这个社区，而且我会继续这样做。”

González曾在美国海军陆战队服役，父母是来自墨西哥的移民。他曾就读于伊州大学芝加哥分校（University of Illinois Chicago）。他表示，希望选区内的学校保持高学业标准，让学生接受挑战，而其中许多学生也来自移民家庭。

“我们想要竞争，我们想要接受挑战，”他说。“作为第一代美国人，我不希望仅仅因为自己来自某个邮政编码地区，就被别人看低。”

González还希望改善数学和阅读教学，并认为学校可以扩大职业与技术教育（Career and Technical Education）项目。他表示，为学生提供进入建筑行业的职业发展路径，可能会帮助最近在西南区定居、并且“希望用双手创造东西”的年轻移民学生。

“我们的社区拥有非常出色的创造性思维——无论是在艺术方面，还是在我们翻修房产的方式上，”他说。

González还希望研究CPS如何使用预算，以及如何更有效地分配资源来提高教育质量。

“为什么我们的学生和纳税人正流失到郊区？”他问道。“我们是一座世界级城市，我们也期待拥有世界级的教育。”

González获得了支持择校选择、政治中间派的组织The Urban Center，以及Illinois Network of Charter Schools政治组织的竞选捐款。Illinois Network of Charter Schools倡导由公共资金支持、独立运营的特许学校。

他还获得Common Ground Collective的支持。该组织是一个亲商界、反对CTU的政治行动委员会（PAC），主要由亿万富翁Michael Sacks资助，并称其目标是推动选民关注“有效的进步政策”。

阅读González填写的完整候选人问卷。

在得知现任委员 Wallace 被取消参选资格后，Angeles 宣布作为海选候选人（write-in candidate）加入选战。

Angeles 就读于西南区的高中 John Hancock College Prep，在校期间担任地方学校理事会（LSC）的学生成员。Angeles 表示，在 Hancock 就读期间，他常听到学生们对学区预算削减的影响深感担忧，同时也听到了关于改善学校午餐以及获得教师更多支持的诉求。

“如果我们想为下一代做决定，就需要来自那一代人中的一员来引领这场抗争，”他说。

作为移民家庭的孩子，Angeles 还在麦当劳做收银员，并在O’Reilly Auto Parts 担任汽车配件专员以贴补家用——他说，这种经历能引起其他学生的共鸣。他住在 West Lawn，该地正是他力求代表的选区的一部分。

尽管他明白选民可能会对刚从高中毕业就竞选公职的人心存疑虑，但他表示自己深知当前困扰学生的问题，并有解决这些问题的动力。

“我精力充沛，”他说，“这就是年轻的优势。”

Angeles 表示，他的竞选纲领与芝加哥教师工会（CTU）一致，其中包括坚决反对学校关停。但他同时表示，如果当选，他计划在存在分歧的议题上与芝加哥教育委员会成员达成妥协。

阅读 Angeles 的完整调查问卷。

Francia Garcia Hernandez为Block Club Chicago报道Pilsen、Little Village和Back of the Yards社区。联系Francia：francia@blockclubchi.org。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：西南区7b选区选情

2026-10-06T19:51:58+00:00

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本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

两名具有公共服务背景的拉丁裔女性正在竞争7b选区的教育委员会席位。该选区位于芝加哥西南区，是伊州高绩效学校占比最高的地区之一，区内多所学校位列全州排名前两档评级之中。

现任委员Yesenia Lopez在2024年获得芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）和时任美国国会众议员Jesus “Chuy” Garcia的支持，成功当选。这一次，在没有CTU支持的情况下，她将迎战芝加哥公园局（Chicago Park District）项目经理Erika Diaz-Chavez。Diaz-Chavez从小就读于私立学校，并获得Illinois Network of Charter Schools政治组织以及The Urban Center的支持。The Urban Center是一个政治中间派的组织，倡导特许学校以及在公立和私立学校之间提供择校选择。

Lopez获得Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council（SEIU伊州分会）的支持。该组织代表芝加哥公立学校（CPS）数千名教辅和后勤人员，近年来在政治立场上与CTU出现分歧。

7b选区共有34所学校，其中13%跻身伊州最佳的10%学校之列。

7b选区学校的拉丁裔学生比例是整个CPS系统中最高的，不过也有少数学校的学生主要为亚裔。大约84%的学生来自低收入家庭，约一半是需要语言辅导的非英语母语者。

两名候选人都表示，希望增加为学生提供的特殊教育资源，以回应家长对孩子没有得到所需帮助的担忧。她们还希望确保在移民执法力度加大的情况下，CPS采取充分措施保护移民家庭。

不过，两人在Sustainable Community Schools项目上的看法有所不同。这项受到CTU支持的项目为数十所学校提供额外资金，让学校与社区组织合作，为家庭提供更多服务。CTU代表约3万名教师和其他CPS工作人员，并以高度关注社会正义议题而闻名。

Diaz-Chavez不确定这一模式是否取得了预期成效。该项目目前已经写入CTU的劳资合同，她希望在投入更多资金之前先评估项目效果。Lopez认为这一模式能够为家庭带来帮助，因此支持该项目，不过她也同意学区应该持续追踪项目进展。

Lopez毕业于Pilsen的Juárez Community Academy High School。她曾在西南区多所学校工作或担任志愿者。2022年，她还曾担任JB Pritzker州长竞选团队的拉丁裔社区外联主任。最近，她担任Patty Garcia竞选团队的副经理。Patty Garcia正在竞选Jesus “Chuy” Garcia此前担任的国会第4选区众议员席位。

Lopez的优先事项包括保护移民家庭，以及增加支持学生心理健康的服务。她最近呼吁市长办公室推进成立一个教育委员会顾问小组，专门关注非公民学生及其家庭的需求。根据伊州法律，市政府必须成立这一顾问小组。

支持Lopez的SEIU是她竞选活动的主要捐款方之一，2024年也是如此。

不过，这一次她没有获得CTU的支持。两年前，她在CTU的支持下当选，但此后她的一些投票与获得CTU支持的教育委员会委员有所不同。

Lopez表示，这次没有获得CTU支持让她感到意外：“我是支持公共教育的候选人，我自己就读的也是公立学校，而且一直非常明确地支持我们的社区学校。”

最近，Lopez在一项由CTU支持推动的CPS预算修正案表决中投了弃权票。

“我已经证明，我是真正独立的，”Lopez说。

Lopez没有回复我们的候选人问卷。

Diaz-Chavez已在芝加哥公园局工作20多年。她负责管理芝加哥近西北区的The 606步道，同时负责该机构文化与自然资源部门的数据管理工作。

她表示，自己决定参选，是因为她认为教育委员会应该采取更多行动来改善学生的学业表现。

“我觉得，从某种程度上说，我们没有为孩子们做好该做的事，”Diaz-Chavez说。“这百分之百需要成为我们的重点。我们怎样才能在学业方面尽最大努力帮助这些孩子？”

Diaz-Chavez在Pilsen一带长大，曾就读于芝加哥以及Oak Park郊区的天主教学校。她是一名家长，但她的孩子不在CPS就读。

她获得了支持择校选择的政治组织The Urban Center的背书和资金。Diaz-Chavez表示，如果进入教育委员会，她将成为一个独立的声音。

“我希望确保我们能够与所有人合作，而不仅仅是那些与我立场相同的人，或者与我属于同一个候选人阵营的人，”她说。

Diaz-Chavez表示，如果教育委员会中有更多独立的声音，就更容易作出从长远来看最符合学区需要的决定。这包括分析明年夏天学校关闭禁令到期后应该采取什么措施。

“没有人希望看到学校关闭，”她说。不过，她补充道：“我们必须进行一次非常坦诚的讨论，谈谈怎样才能让我们的教育体系为未来几代人保持可持续发展。”

截至目前，Diaz-Chavez的竞选活动筹集的资金不多，但已经收到Illinois Network of Charter Schools和The Urban Center的捐款。这两个组织都支持特许学校。

Diaz-Chavez没有回复我们的候选人问卷。

Emmanuel Camarillo是Chicago Sun-Times的教育记者。联系Emmanuel：ecamarillo@suntimes.com。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：南区6b选区选情

2026-10-06T19:51:43+00:00

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本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

Michael Neal是南区本地人，长期在社区担任牧师。他正在与律师、芝加哥公立学校（CPS）家长Brittany Kimble竞争6b选区的教育委员会席位。该选区从市中心富裕的Lakeshore East社区一路向南延伸，经过South Loop，直至Greater Grand Crossing。

两人都是首次竞选这一席位的候选人。这也是今年两场没有任何候选人获得学区两大主要工会——芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）和代表学校教辅及后勤人员的Service Employees International Union（SEIU）——背书的教育委员会竞选之一。

目前代表该选区的Jessica Biggs正在竞选教育委员会主席。

6b选区共有37所学校。其中许多学校的学生以黑人为主，一些学校的入学人数下降幅度位居全市前列，同时一些距离市中心较近的学校在过去十年中学生人数有所增加。候选人表示，家庭关注的问题包括希望所有社区都拥有高质量、资源充足的公立学校，以及希望自己和孩子在学校里感到受到欢迎。

Neal在芝加哥南区出生和长大，毕业于CPS学校，目前经营一家非营利组织。Kimble成长过程中居住过伊州多个城镇，目前她的女儿就读于Ida B. Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy。

Kimble的两项首要任务是提高学生的阅读和数学熟练程度，以及解决CPS的预算问题。Neal则希望改善幼儿教育。

两名候选人都获得了一些经常与CTU和市长办公室立场不一致的团体的支持或竞选资金。

Neal获得Common Ground Collective的支持。这是一个新成立的亲商界、反对CTU的政治行动委员会（PAC），主要由亿万富翁Michael Sacks资助，并称其目标是推动选民关注“有效的进步政策”。

Kimble的竞选活动获得The Urban Center的支持。该政治中间派组织倡导在公立和私立学校之间提供择校选择，并为她的竞选活动提供了部分资金支持。不过，Kimble坚持表示，该组织没有向她提出任何要求。

Neal是Oakland社区Glorious Light Church的牧师。他表示，自己一直希望除了周日讲道之外，还能通过其他方式帮助社区。十多年前，他开始在当地一所小学为孩子们朗读图书，之后又通过自己创办的非营利组织，招募更多黑人男性参与这项活动。

随着他对教育的兴趣不断加深，Neal开始在Greater Bronzeville Community Action Council任职。该机构致力于制定改善教育的计划。

“竞选教育委员会似乎是一件非常自然的事情，因为这基本上就是我成年后一直都在做的事，尤其是在我成为父亲之后，”Neal说。他已经成年的女儿们都曾就读于CPS学校。

Neal表示，直到几个月前，他创办的非营利组织Timothy Community Corporation一直在一所已经关闭的CPS学校内运营。该组织致力于扩大人们获得健康与福祉、读写能力培养以及领导力培训资源的机会。

Neal表示，他的志愿朗读项目目前还向学校捐赠图书。这项工作让他开始关注如何改善幼儿教育，而这也将成为他当选后的首要工作重点。他希望在全市学校扩大为儿童朗读的项目，并招募更多慈善组织和企业提供志愿者及其他支持。

Neal表示，他的竞选活动“资金并不充裕”，但有人通过实物形式提供帮助或担任志愿者，例如帮助收集取得参选资格所需的选民签名。他称自己是“竞选新手”，并表示妻子为他制作了竞选网站，一个女儿偶尔为他提供建议，一名朋友则在帮助管理竞选活动。

阅读Neal填写的完整候选人问卷。

Kimble表示，她曾多次尝试为女儿在学校争取额外支持，包括解决语言表达方面的问题和校园欺凌问题，但都没有成功。这段经历一度促使她选择在家教育女儿。如今，这也促使身为单亲母亲的Kimble竞选教育委员会席位。

Kimble表示，虽然她曾尝试在校外为女儿寻找额外支持，但并不是“每一位家长都应该被迫这么做”。

Kimble说，她在芝加哥的一些郊区城镇以及伊州Carbondale市长大，并就读公立学校，之后进入法学院学习。

Kimble经营自己的律师事务所近十年，今年2月她申请了破产。Kimble表示，她的财务问题源于疫情后多年来维持公司运营所面临的困难。

根据法院文件，在提交破产申请时，Kimble共有825,210美元的各类债务，其中包括信用卡债务、学生贷款以及欠美国小企业管理局（U.S. Small Business Administration）的债务；与此同时，她拥有的个人财产和房地产总值仅为227,873美元，其中包括她的住房。

“我从自己的处境中吸取了教训……我最终能够通过申请破产走出困境，”Kimble说。“CPS不能申请破产，但如果没有更多资金进入，CPS也不能继续按照同样的方式花钱。”

她目前仍持有律师执照，并希望有一天能够重新开设律师事务所。她表示，现在自己已经变得“反对负债”，并削减了个人开支，例如卖掉汽车，改为乘坐CTA公交车送女儿上学。

Kimble表示，如果当选教育委员会委员，她首先会着手解决学区长期存在的结构性赤字，部分措施包括研究削减课堂以外的支出，或减少债务负担。她的另一项优先事项是提高学生的数学和阅读熟练程度。

“在我看来，芝加哥公立学校的数学和读写能力水平令人难堪，但我认为，在解决其他所有问题之前，我们无法解决这些问题，”Kimble在谈到预算时说。

Kimble的竞选活动从反对CTU的The Urban Center获得了价值数千美元的咨询和收集选民签名服务。Kimble在候选人问卷中表示，她会“拒绝任何可能损害我独立性的资金”。

她告诉Chalkbeat，The Urban Center提供的资金帮助她取得了参选资格，而该组织“没有向我提出任何要求”。

Kimble认为，该组织之所以支持她，是因为她曾在家教育自己的孩子。不过，她强调，自己“从根本上支持公立学校”。

阅读Kimble填写的完整候选人问卷。

Reema Amin是负责报道芝加哥公立学校的记者。联系Reema：ramin@chalkbeat.org。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：芝加哥市中心6a选区选情

2026-10-06T19:51:22+00:00

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本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

在这场争夺芝加哥市中心教育委员会席位的竞选中，一名曾任游说人士、目前领导一个全州倡导组织并拥有现任优势的候选人，将迎战两名挑战者——其中一名是获得支持择校权团体背书的特殊教育课堂助理，另一名则是教育研究人员和顾问，其竞选活动相对更加独立。

在2024年芝加哥首次教育委员会选举中，Anusha Thotakura在该选区三名候选人中排名第二，随后由市长任命进入教育委员会。如今，她希望在芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）以及代表学校教辅和后勤工作人员的Service Employees International Union（SEIU）支持下保住席位。

教学辅助人员Isaiah White从The Urban Center获得了数千美元的竞选资金。The Urban Center是一个政治中间派组织，倡导在公立和私立学校之间提供择校选择。他还获得了Illinois Network of Charter Schools政治组织的资金，以及一个亲商界、反对CTU的政治行动委员会（PAC）的支持。该委员会主要由亿万富翁Michael Sacks资助，并称其目标是推动选民关注“有效的进步政策”。

Brenda Lee Anderson是一名停薪留职参选的西北大学讲师，没有获得主要特殊利益团体的支持。

由于6a选区位于芝加哥商业和经济活动的核心区域，这里只有14所公立学校，是所有教育委员会选区中最少的，而且没有一所社区高中。这里就读于芝加哥公立学校（CPS）的学生背景多元，但与整个CPS相比，这些学校的白人和亚裔学生比例更高。

Thotakura和White的首要任务都是提高学生的阅读和数学成绩。Anderson的首要目标则是解决CPS长期存在的预算危机。

Thotakura表示，在担任教育委员会委员近两年的时间里，她最大的成就之一是发起“健康绿色学校”（Healthy Green Schools）决议。该决议要求CPS投资更多清洁能源项目，并将节省下来的能源费用用于改善学校建筑，例如治理霉菌问题。

这项决议出台前，CPS与CTU在去年达成的新劳资协议中约定，在资金允许的情况下建设更多环境友好型学校。根据Thotakura提供的学区备忘录，截至8月，CPS正在推进六个试点项目，以落实该决议，包括在学校安装太阳能板或将暖通空调（HVAC）系统电气化。

如果获得另一个任期，Thotakura的首要任务是推动CPS实现其五年战略计划中制定的目标，从而改善学生的学业表现。她表示，希望学区更加频繁地公开学生学业进展数据，以便教育委员会能够监督学区领导层并要求其承担责任。

她还希望寻找办法，让自己选区内所有社区学校对家庭更具吸引力。她说，许多家庭经常告诉她，他们把孩子送到了其他地方的学校。她表示，这项工作的一部分是增加学前班名额，因为家庭往往需要等待空缺出现。

去年，Thotakura在CPS预算问题上的投票与她最大的支持者之一CTU出现分歧。当时，她投票支持CPS预算，而该预算没有采用高成本借贷。

今年，她则是11名与工会立场一致、投票修改学区拟议预算的教育委员会委员之一。修改后的预算假设CPS将获得比预期多1.5亿美元的州政府资金。如果这笔钱最终没有到位，学校可能需要在学年中途裁减工作人员。

Thotakura为自己的决定辩护时表示，她认为芝加哥市政府可能会通过被称为税收增量融资（Tax Increment Financing，TIF）区的特殊征税区域，为CPS提供更多资金。

“我认为，我们值得动员起来，利用现在的势头，前往Springfield争取支持，”Thotakura说。

Thotakura的投票经常与教师工会的立场一致，但她指出，自己去年在预算问题上的投票就是独立思考的一个例子。

“如果你查看我的投票记录，就会发现我是一个有独立思考能力的人。我最终会听取所有利益相关方提供的一些信息，但会以学生的最大利益为出发点采取行动，”Thotakura说。

阅读Thotakura填写的完整候选人问卷。

White表示，在他开始就读全美选拔最严格的公立高中之一Brooklyn Tech时，他的母亲已经去世，父亲不久前也离开了家。在经历了数周无家可归的生活后，他搬进了Brooklyn一个朋友的家中。

White说，当时一名升学指导老师经常关心他的情况，确保他能够支付大学先修课程（AP）考试费用，并能够获得免费午餐。他表示，这段经历影响了自己竞选教育委员会的决定。

“我的经历说明了这样一种可能：当学校真正非常、非常认真地帮助一个对自己拥有的一切心怀感恩的孩子，帮助其成长、走向社会，成为一个能够过上美好、幸福生活并为社会作出贡献的人时，会发生什么，”White说。“我希望下一代也能拥有这样的机会。”

White三年前与配偶搬到芝加哥，并于2024年开始在CPS担任代课教师。同年，他还曾参与现任6b选区教育委员会委员Jessica Biggs的竞选活动。Biggs目前正在竞选教育委员会主席。去年，White曾竞选Cook County委员，但未能当选。

White后来修改了自己竞选网站上有关部分过往经历的描述。他的网站此前称，他曾担任River North Residents Association家庭服务负责人，但该协会主席告诉Chalkbeat，White实际上是一名志愿者协调员，参与了两场活动，其中包括一场返校活动。

White表示，他觉得自己当时承担的职责类似于负责人，但在协会主席向他指出正确的职位名称后，他表示这“确实是一个疏忽”，并修改了网站。截至9月中旬，网站上已经删除了对该协会的相关描述。

该网站此前还称，White管理过多个竞选活动，其中包括Biggs的竞选。Biggs告诉Chalkbeat，White负责的是外勤和志愿者工作。截至8月中旬，网站上有关Biggs竞选活动的描述已经被删除。不过，White仍表示自己管理过她的竞选活动，并称自己并非有意从网站上删除这一内容。截至报道发布时，有关Biggs的内容仍未恢复。

如果当选教育委员会委员，White表示，他的首要任务将是提高学生的阅读和数学成绩，具体措施包括提高助教薪资，并寻找办法聘用更多优秀的学校领导者。

White的竞选活动获得了The Urban Center、Illinois Network of Charter Schools和Common Ground Collective旗下政治委员会的资金。这些团体总体上都反对CTU的政策方向。

White表示，他没有与这些组织讨论过它们的优先事项，但他认为这些团体“正确地认识到CTU的行动并不符合儿童的最大利益”。

“但我会做符合我的社区利益的事情，而且……如果这意味着他们在我竞选连任时不再支持我，那也没关系，”White说。

阅读White填写的完整候选人问卷。

Anderson希望利用自己作为教育和社会政策研究人员的经验，解决教育不平等问题并增加学校经费。

Anderson表示，自己在俄亥俄州和田纳西州成长期间，曾多次进出寄养系统，当时母亲受到成瘾问题困扰，而学校是他的“安全空间”之一。这段经历让Anderson认识到，稳定的学校环境和给予支持的社区居民有多么重要，这也最终助其取得博士学位。

Anderson几年前搬到芝加哥。其LinkedIn页面及其填写的候选人问卷均显示，Anderson在西北大学的教育与社会政策学院任教，但该校一名发言人表示，Anderson的聘用关系已于7月中旬结束。Anderson则表示，计划在选举结束后，于该校冬季和春季学期返回任教，目前正从事其他与教育相关的咨询工作。

Anderson的首要任务是解决CPS的预算问题，包括争取目前尚未充分利用的额外联邦资金，并推动州政府增加教育经费。目前，联邦资金约占学区预算的9%。

Anderson表示，如果当选，将依据有证据支持的政策，而不是特殊利益团体的诉求来作出决定。这位候选人还表示，将努力建立由不同政治立场人士组成的关系网络和联盟，包括其他地方民选官员、工薪阶层和低收入居民，以及亿万富翁。

“当所有这些活动人士和组织者设想一个教育委员会应该是什么样子时，我相信他们设想中就包括像我这样的人：一个希望以学生为中心、希望尽可能保持公共教育的公共属性，并且愿意与所有人对话的人，”Anderson说。“组织工作的第一条原则就是，你必须把那些并不总是与你意见一致的人组织起来，对吧？”

与两名对手不同，Anderson没有获得主要工会或特殊利益团体的支持。

阅读Anderson填写的完整候选人问卷。

Reema Amin是负责报道芝加哥公立学校的记者。联系Reema：ramin@chalkbeat.org。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：北区4b选区选情

2026-10-06T19:51:05+00:00

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本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

Ellen Rosenfeld曾是芝加哥公立学校（CPS）教师和学区家庭与社区参与专员。2024年，她在全市候选人最多的一场教育委员会竞选中轻松击败另外五名候选人，赢得北区这一席位。今年，她在无人挑战的情况下竞选连任。

支持择校选择权的团体曾投入大量资金支持Rosenfeld，并反对一名由教师工会支持的候选人。过去两年，在离开CPS家庭与社区参与部门的职位后，她将教育委员会工作作为自己的全职工作。Rosenfeld是七名民选委员组成的阵营之一。这个阵营一直反对市长任命的委员及其民选盟友，而后者在教育委员会占多数席位。Rosenfeld获得了Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council（SEIU伊州分会）的支持。该组织代表CPS辅助工作人员。此外，其他反对芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）的团体也支持她。CTU是市长以前的雇主，也是其重要盟友。

Rosenfeld曾担任地方学校理事会（Local School Council，LSC）主席，她的四个孩子都毕业于CPS学校。她认为，现任教育委员会过度陷入政治纷争，也容易受到外部压力影响。不过，她认为即将上任的全体民选教育委员会可能迎来学业表现的回升，包括提高阅读熟练程度和降低长期缺勤率。长期缺勤是她重点关注的问题之一。她表示，下一届教育委员会必须围绕一套改善学区的共同目标凝聚共识。

“如果没有共同愿景，几乎不可能把真正有益的事情做好，”Rosenfeld说。“我们甚至不知道这艘船到底要驶向哪里。”

4b选区共有18所学校，其中包括多所学业表现优异的社区学校、备受欢迎的磁校，以及一所很受欢迎的选拔入学高中Lane Tech College Prep。与许多其他选区相比，这里的家庭选择社区学校的比例更高，尤其是在小学阶段。一些学校既招收选区内学生，也吸引全市各地的学生，因此学生群体较为多元。不过总体而言，与整个CPS相比，该选区的学生中白人比例更高，家庭收入也更高。

Rosenfeld表示，通过定期安排与选民交流的时间，并走访大约60所学校——包括一些不在她选区内的学校——她与学校和学区工作人员、家庭以及学生建立了联系。

她表示，自己坚持在教育委员会所投的每一票，其中包括两次有关预算的投票：一次是投票赞成2025-26学年的支出计划，该计划没有采用高成本借贷；另一次是投票反对今年的预算。她反对今年的预算，是因为该预算为了避免裁减工作人员，依赖州政府尚未拨给CPS的资金。

Rosenfeld曾是少数投票反对将Acero特许学校网络旗下五所学校纳入CPS的教育委员会委员之一，这一决定引起了CTU和一些Acero特许学校家庭的不满。她认为，考虑到CPS自身面临的入学人数和财政挑战，学区不应该出手挽救陷入困境、由私人运营的公立学校。此后，一些特许学校和合约学校运营机构以这次投票为例，认为CPS也可以出资挽救他们的学校。

在关闭学校的问题上，Rosenfeld可能会再次与CTU产生分歧，因为该工会坚决反对关闭学校。她表示，教育委员会必须正视过去十年来学生人数持续下降的问题。随着出生率大幅下降，预计学生人数下降的速度还会加快。

她表示，面对越来越多学生人数严重不足的学校，教育委员会成员不应该简单地视而不见。她认为，这些学校的学生获得的教育体验低于应有水平。Rosenfeld说，学区需要从2013年那次“糟糕的”大规模关闭学校事件中吸取教训，并开始真正的社区参与。她表示，一种可能的做法是成立一个工作组，让来自芝加哥不同背景的居民共同参与。

“我们现在的做法行不通，”她说。“这既不合理，也是在浪费资源。”

阅读Rosenfeld填写的完整候选人问卷。

Mila Koumpilova是Chalkbeat Chicago负责报道芝加哥公立学校的资深记者。联系Mila：mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：北区4a选区选情

2026-10-06T19:50:51+00:00

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本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

在这个北区选区的竞选中，一名由市长任命进入现任教育委员会的退休教育工作者，将迎战两名挑战者。两名挑战者认为，教育委员会在履行财政责任以及为芝加哥公立学校（CPS）制定远大目标方面表现不足。

Karen Zaccor长期在Uptown担任教师和教育倡导者。2024年，她在六名候选人中排名第二，之后由市长任命进入教育委员会。此次她将迎战师资招聘和留任专家Ellen Sherratt以及干细胞研究人员Ángel Álvarez。

这个位于北部湖滨的选区共有15所学校，几乎比所有其他教育委员会选区都少。其中包括学业表现优异的社区学校、受欢迎的磁校，以及一所非传统特许高中。大约57%的学生就读于所在社区的小学，但到了高中阶段，这一比例要低得多。该选区的学校吸引了背景多元的学生。上一学年，该选区共有8,400名CPS学生，其中约37%为拉丁裔，近26%为白人，23%为黑人，近8%为亚裔。

在2024年的教育委员会选举中，现在的4a选区属于范围更大的第4选区。教育委员会委员Ellen Rosenfeld击败了五名对手。这是当年所有选区竞选人数最多的一场。今年，Rosenfeld在邻近的4b选区无人挑战。

Zaccor的投票立场一直与教育委员会中的多数派保持一致。这一多数派由市长Brandon Johnson任命的委员，或在芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）支持下当选的委员组成。CTU是Johnson以前的雇主，也是他的亲密盟友。Zaccor的优先事项也与CTU的主张相呼应，而该工会已为她背书。这些事项包括推动征收亿万富翁税或通过其他新的州级累进税收来源增加学校经费，以及扩大“可持续性社区学校”（Sustainable Community Schools）项目。该项目由CPS和CTU合作开展，需求较高的学校每年可额外获得50万美元，用于与当地非营利组织合作并扩大服务。

她的对手Sherratt和Alvarez认为，面对不断增加的预算赤字，学区除游说州政府之外，还必须采取更多行动，包括更加审慎地制定预算并减少浪费。

Sherratt获得了Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council（SEIU 伊州分会）的支持和资金。该组织代表学校教辅和后勤工作人员，近年来在政治立场上与教师工会出现分歧。其他反对CTU的团体也支持Sherratt，其中包括Common Ground Collective。这是一个亲商界、反对CTU的政治行动委员会（PAC），主要由亿万富翁Michael Sacks资助，并称其目标是推动选民关注“有效的进步政策”。此外，还有两个倡导择校选择和特许学校的团体支持她的竞选活动。

Sherratt表示，她将把自己在教师质量方面的专业知识带入教育委员会，并推动制定更有雄心的学生学业成绩目标。

Alvarez领导CPS残障学生办公室（Office for Students with Disabilities）的家庭顾问委员会。他表示，自己将推动特殊教育服务更加及时回应家庭需求，并保护家庭免受更高房产税的影响。

长期研究师资招聘和留任问题的Sherratt表示，教育委员会需要更多了解全美教育趋势的专家。她说，自己将成为一个独立的声音，不受CTU或其他特殊利益团体左右。

“我带来的是在全美各地积累的广泛而深入的经验，”她说。

Sherratt表示，她的职业生涯一直致力于研究学校如何招聘和留住优秀教师，并为学区、州政府和联邦政府提供咨询。她曾参与一项提高教师薪资的全国性计划，也参与过伊州解决教育工作者短缺问题的相关工作。目前，她领导自己创办的教师质量咨询公司Common Cents Education，与各学区合作处理师资队伍问题。Sherratt的女儿就读于一所私立学校。她表示，这是“我们家庭作出的私人决定”，并指出自己长期以来一直支持公立学校。

Sherratt表示，她希望芝加哥市政府和学区制定一系列在2037年芝加哥建城200周年之前实现的“登月目标”，例如大幅提高学生的数学成绩。她说，在制定这些目标时，她会广泛征求意见，包括学生的意见，并计划专门在课后安排时间与学生交流。

“我们应该更有雄心，并让整个过程和这些目标真正成为芝加哥市可以引以为豪的事情，”Sherratt说。

她还表示，教育委员会应该争取更多州政府资金，但她反对自己所称的强硬手段，例如最近通过一项依靠“并不存在的资金”来平衡的预算，同时向州政府施压，要求批准这些资金。

“我想，对Springfield的许多人来说，这可能让他们感觉自己受到了胁迫，”她说。

阅读Sherratt填写的完整候选人问卷。

Zaccor代表的是芝加哥较富裕的选区之一，这里拥有一些全市知名的磁校。不过，作为教育委员会委员，她把工作重点放在扶持贫困社区的公立学校，并试图解决长期存在的不平等问题。

Zaccor表示，她认为这两者之间并不矛盾。她所在的Uptown社区也有需求较高的学校，例如她曾任教多年的Uplift Community High School。2005年，她曾与一群家长和倡导者共同创办Uplift。Zaccor还表示，全市各地的家庭和学生向她反映了许多相同的担忧，包括课后项目是否充足、学生在学校使用电子屏幕的时间，以及学校食堂食品的质量。

“我永远不会认为，要求建立一个真正公平的教育体系是一件错误的事，”她说。

她长期倡导实行民选教育委员会，也曾担任地方学校理事会（Local School Council，LSC）成员。她的女儿毕业于CPS选拔入学学校Whitney Young Magnet High School。Zaccor表示，她为自己迄今在教育委员会的工作感到自豪，尤其是她推动对特许学校采取更加严格的续约和监督程序。

Zaccor强烈支持继续扩大“可持续性社区学校”项目。近期，该项目面临一些执行障碍以及改善学生成绩的证据有限等问题。她表示，这个项目“仍在不断完善”，但学区已经从中吸取经验，可以应用到新加入该项目的学校。

她的其他优先事项包括继续推动州政府增加教育经费、推广绿色学校，以及改善学校食堂食品。她反对关闭学校，并认为学区应该投入更多资金，振兴入学人数较少的学校。

“我们需要先进行投资，然后看看这能带来什么样的改变，”她说。

阅读Zaccor填写的完整候选人问卷。

Alvarez对于芝加哥教育委员会的决定如何影响人们的生活并不陌生。四年前，由于学区未能提供校车接送，他患有视障的女儿缺席了Decatur Elementary School三年级上半学期的全部课程。他花了很长时间向负责校车路线的学区官员反映问题，也曾向有权批准校车服务供应商合同的教育委员会陈述情况。不仅如此，他还向州政府提交了申诉，并通过全美主流媒体分享了家庭的遭遇。

Alvarez目前领导CPS残障学生办公室的家庭顾问委员会，帮助家庭解决校车接送、特殊教育人员配置和其他服务方面的问题。

“在CPS，理论和实际之间存在巨大的脱节——也就是纸面上的规定与家庭实际经历的情况之间存在很大差距，”曾担任地方学校理事会成员的Alvarez说。谈到自己解决校车问题的经历，他补充说：“我有博士学位，但即使对我来说，这个过程也很复杂。”

Alvarez是一名科学家，也是西北大学的助理教授，并担任干细胞核心实验室主任。他还倡导资优教育，并曾通过西语裔数理教育促进计划（Hispanic Math and Science Education Initiative）向高中生教授科学。

如果当选，他将推动芝加哥市政府在所有儿童入学前筛查学习障碍及其他残障情况，并帮助家庭获得已经存在的相关资源。

Alvarez表示，他曾与教育委员会成员讨论过从学校纪律到学区财政困境等一系列问题。限制CPS房产税上涨是他的首要任务。他认为，学区可以更有效地利用目前已经获得的资金。他表示，CPS确实应该继续向州政府争取更多收入，但同时也应该减少浪费、提高资金使用效率，包括赋予地方学校理事会在学校预算方面更大的话语权。

“说‘我要向州政府争取更多资金’很容易，”他说。“州政府没有这些钱。”

阅读Alvarez填写的完整候选人问卷。

Mila Koumpilova是Chalkbeat Chicago负责报道芝加哥公立学校的资深记者。联系Mila：mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：2b选区选情

2026-10-06T19:50:36+00:00

阅读英文版｜阅读西班牙文版

本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。Block Club Chicago 是一家报道芝加哥多元社区的非营利新闻机构。欢迎订阅 Chalkbeat Chicago 的电子通讯、WBEZ 与《Chicago Sun-Times》的教育类电子通讯，以及 Block Club Chicago 的电子通讯，及时获取最新资讯。

一名由市长任命、现已退休的芝加哥公立学校（CPS）教师，正在与另外两名候选人竞争2b选区教育委员会席位：一名曾任特殊教育教师、对学区债务负担感到担忧；另一名则是数据科学家，重点关注如何从伊州议会争取更多教育经费。

现任委员Debby Pope获得芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）的支持；Kyna Lenhof获得亲商界、反对CTU的Common Ground Collective支持；Daniel Basco则将自己定位为“坚定的独立声音”。

2b选区是芝加哥文化最多元的地区之一，共有18所公立学校。三名候选人都将确保课堂获得充足资金和资源列为主要优先事项之一，但他们对于如何获得这些资金看法不同。

Pope表示，她支持通过向富人征税来增加学校经费；Basco表示，他希望CPS从州政府获得更多资金；Lenhof则表示，她希望减少学区对高利率贷款的依赖。

2024年，在市长Brandon Johnson任命的第一批教育委员会成员因他与前CPS首席执行官Pedro Martinez之间的紧张关系而集体辞职后，Johnson任命Pope进入教育委员会。

Pope获得了具有强大影响力的教师工会支持。Lenhof则获得The Urban Center的支持。该政治中间派组织支持特许学校，并倡导在公立和私立学校之间提供择校选择。Lenhof还获得Common Ground Collective的支持。该组织的资金主要来自亿万富翁Michael Sacks，其目标自称是推动选民关注“有效的进步政策”。

今年夏季早些时候，Common Ground发布了一则广告，批评Pope投票支持一项CPS预算方案。该方案假设学区将获得比预计多1.5亿美元的州政府资金。

投票前一天，Lenhof也发表声明批评Pope。

“我们目前的教育委员会委员是由市长Brandon Johnson任命的，她一直支持高利率贷款，这些贷款加重了纳税人的负担，也削弱了CPS未来的财务状况，”Lenhof写道。

Pope和Lenhof都强调了自己在课堂工作的经验，而Basco则将自己定位为独立候选人，并重点介绍了自己在教育政策研究方面的工作。

Pope在纽约长大，在芝加哥居住了50多年，其中近30年住在Andersonville。

在这些年里，她有近20年担任高中教师，主要教授双语社会学科。退休后，Pope在CTU工作了十余年，担任过多个不同职务。

在教育委员会的第一个任期内，Pope积极倡导双语和双语沉浸式教育，这与她过去的课堂经历密切相关。她刚开始在Benito Juárez Community Academy High School任教时，许多学生都是刚从墨西哥来到美国的移民。当时Pope的西班牙语并不流利，但她说，自己每天下班后都会阅读西班牙语词典来提高语言能力。

“我把学校看作一个机会，可以帮助那些以移民身份来到这里的孩子在美国站稳脚跟，”她说。

Pope的两个女儿也曾就读于CPS学校。Pope在Gage Park High School任教期间，她们从Whitney Young Magnet High School毕业。她的孙女目前就读于Lakeview的双语学校Inter-American Magnet School。

“每天看到我的女儿们能够获得的机会和我的学生们能够获得的机会之间存在如此大的差距，让我感到很痛苦，”Pope说。“我的一个女儿上过四种不同的艺术课，另一个女儿参加了音乐会合唱团，她们俩还都是游泳队成员。Gage Park没有这些机会，而我希望所有孩子都能拥有这些机会。”

Pope表示，确保教育经费得到公平分配非常重要。她希望实施累进所得税，并堵住企业税收漏洞，让富人为公共教育贡献更多资金。

截至9月中旬，Pope最大的捐款来源是CTU的政治组织。

阅读Pope填写的完整候选人问卷。

25年前，Lenhof为了在The Second City剧团学习即兴表演而搬到芝加哥。来到芝加哥后，她开始在Easterseals Academy工作。这是一所为自闭症学生提供服务的治疗性日间学校。后来，她在Kilbourn Park的Scammon Elementary School担任特殊教育教师。

“我之所以受到鼓舞决定参选，是因为我真的相信，每个孩子都应该有机会接受安全、公平并且充满快乐的教育，”已在Bowmanville居住13年的Lenhof说。

她目前在政治筹款和策略公司KMM Consulting工作。该公司帮助当地候选人和非营利组织举办活动并筹集资金。她同时担任第40区民主党组织的财务主管。她也继续参加表演，并在Andersonville主持一档综艺演出。

Lenhof表示，如果当选，她希望CPS获得更多特殊教育经费，确保所有教育工作者都遵循个体化教育计划（Individualized Education Programs，IEP），并为特殊教育教师提供充分支持。

“我的优先事项归根结底就是：我们怎样才能为最弱势的群体做正确的事？”Lenhof说。

她还表示，她将推动制定一项尽可能减少学区借贷的预算，避免“更多高利率贷款，而不是把资金直接投入课堂”。她说，所有资金都应该在整个学区内得到公平分配。

截至9月中旬，在政治行动委员会中，Lenhof最大的两个捐款来源是Common Ground Collective PAC和INCS Action PAC。INCS Action PAC是一个全州性组织，重点推动由公共资金支持、独立运营的特许学校。

阅读Lenhof填写的完整候选人问卷。

Basco来自得克萨斯州，曾在Northwestern University学习政策分析。之后，他从事数据科学工作，并在加利福尼亚州RAND School of Public Policy取得政策分析博士学位。五年前，他搬到Andersonville居住。

在奥巴马政府时期，Basco曾就科学教育经费相关政策向美国教育部提供建议，并与得克萨斯州的社区学院合作，评估其课程的成效。

目前，他在Kindsight工作。该公司为教育、非营利和医疗保健领域提供筹款工具。Basco负责开发技术，帮助非营利组织寻找捐款人。

“我的方法一直都是：‘怎样才能收集尽可能多的数据？怎样才能从每一个角度来看待这个问题？’”Basco说。

Basco表示，如果当选，他将倡导争取更多州政府资金，并推动CPS制定多年期预算，为学生和家庭提供更大的稳定性。

“我从家长那里听到的是，预算的不确定性意味着各种项目存在不确定性，包括课后项目和英语语言项目，”Basco说。

Basco的工作涉及人工智能。他还表示，CPS需要针对人工智能制定更严格的规范。Basco说，虽然人工智能可以成为帮助学生学习的工具，但学区必须确保学生的数据和隐私得到保护。

“这个领域发展得非常快，因此我们需要了解最新情况的人来帮助制定政策，”Basco说。

Basco一直强调自己的独立性。他在个人网站上表示，自己“不受任何政治机器左右”。

Basco表示，作为一名独立候选人，意味着要“对每一个群体都抱有同理心”。

“我会从各个层面审视问题，也会听取所有人的意见，努力寻找可能的解决方案，”Basco说。

截至9月中旬，Basco已向自己的竞选活动捐款7,000美元，没有申报其他捐款。

阅读Basco填写的完整候选人问卷。

Molly DeVore为Block Club Chicago报道芝加哥远西北区的社区，包括Portage Park、Jefferson Park、Norwood Park、Forest Glen和Sauganash。联系Molly：molly@blockclubchi.org。

2026年芝加哥教育委员会选举：2a选区选情

2026-10-06T19:50:11+00:00

阅读英文版｜阅读西班牙文版

本文由 Chalkbeat Chicago 与 WBEZ、Chinatown Spotlight,《Chicago Sun-Times》以及 Block Club Chicago 联合采访报道并发布。

一名律师正在挑战一名有社区组织工作背景的现任委员。两人将在这场竞选中争夺代表芝加哥远北区湖滨一带文化最为多元的地区之一的教育委员会席位。

Ebony DeBerry于2024年当选。面对芝加哥公立学校（CPS）的预算困境，她主张向企业和富人征收更多税款。她的对手则认为，削减开支是解决问题的途径。曾就读于CPS、现任伊州儿童与家庭服务部律师的Hector Morales则表示，学区必须提高资金使用效率。

2a选区居住着大量移民家庭。根据Rogers Park Business Alliance的数据，仅Rogers Park社区就有80多种语言在使用。

在如何资助和扶持双语及双语沉浸式教育项目，并同时应对芝加哥公立学校（CPS）预算赤字的问题上，两位候选人存在分歧。

“我们必须想办法让企业、百万富翁和亿万富翁缴纳他们应承担的公平份额，”DeBerry在接受采访时说。Morales则表示，教育委员会成员“在开始向大家要求更多资金之前，需要确保我们先把现有的资源用好。”

DeBerry曾是一名CPS教师。她在2024年的选举中获得43%的选票，以微弱优势击败另外三名候选人。

DeBerry获得了芝加哥教师工会（Chicago Teachers Union，CTU）的支持。Morales则获得Common Ground Collective的支持。Common Ground Collective是一个亲商界、反对CTU的政治行动委员会，其资金主要来自亿万富翁Michael Sacks。该组织称，其目标是推动选民关注“有效的进步政策”。

去年冬天，该组织投放广告，抨击芝加哥市长Brandon Johnson提出的企业人头税。另一方面，CTU则大力支持这项企业人头税。

Morales还获得The Urban Center的支持。这是一个政治中间派组织，倡导在公立和私立学校体系中提供择校选择。

DeBerry一生都住在Rogers Park，曾是CPS学生、教师和家长。她毕业于Sullivan High School，并于2000年代初在CPS教授学前班、幼儿园和一年级。她也曾在郊区的Evanston和Arlington Heights任教。她的儿子于2021年从CPS的选拔入学高中Northside College Prep毕业。

DeBerry表示，她作为教师以及在非营利组织ONE Northside的工作经历，让她认识到让学生及其家庭参与学校事务的重要性。ONE Northside致力于帮助社区居民参与各种社区议题。

“我们的人生经历让我们最清楚自己需要什么，”DeBerry说。“我认为这就是为什么我如此重视社区学校——这项计划根据每个学校社区的需求，为学校提供项目和资源。每所学校都不一样，因为每所学校的需求都不同。”

如果成功连任，DeBerry表示，她希望成立一个青年顾问委员会，让教育委员会能够直接听取学生的意见。

“我们需要听取广泛的意见，包括个人经验和社区经验，”她说。

DeBerry表示，伊州需要加强针对特许学校的政策，以免学校突然关闭时学生措手不及，就像去年春天Acero特许学校发生的情况一样。

“当时有高年级学生不知道自己是否还能和同学一起毕业，也不知道还能不能参加毕业舞会，”DeBerry说。“这让人非常心痛。”

DeBerry希望CPS开始制定多年期预算，把不断上涨的工资和校舍维护成本纳入规划，从而减少每年年初最后一刻削减预算的情况。她还表示，芝加哥的税收制度需要改革，富人应该为CPS承担更多费用。

“我们正在让房主承受难以负担的压力，而他们并不都是富人，”DeBerry说。“我们的税收制度非常不公平——这座城市的一切都由工薪阶层和中产阶级来承担。”

截至9月中旬，DeBerry获得的最大笔捐款来自ONE People’s Campaign。

阅读DeBerry填写的完整候选人问卷。

Morales平日是一名律师，其私人律所专门处理商业执照、房地产和土地规划等事务。但Morales也热爱电子音乐，最近还获得了西北大学（Northwestern University）声音艺术与产业专业的学位。

Morales曾就读于Senn和Roberto Clemente高中，之后从Truman Middle College Alternative High School毕业。他表示，直到30多岁参加了一门“电路弯曲”（circuit bending）课程后，他才觉得音乐真正变得触手可及。

Morales把侄女坏掉的电子琴连接到自己的笔记本电脑上，并开始制作自己的电子音乐。

“这让我意识到，任何东西都可以成为音乐，”他说。

Morales表示，他是在Rogers Park的Gale Elementary School做志愿者后受到启发，决定竞选教育委员会席位。当时，他在那里教孩子们制作电子音乐。

“我注意到，一开始很害羞的孩子会走到前面开始做音乐，然后他们的脸一下子就亮了起来，”Morales回忆道。

Morales表示，如果当选，他希望让音乐和艺术成为学校核心课程的一部分。他认为，培养学生的创造力可以帮助他们成为更加全面发展的学生。

Morales毕业于Loyola University。他在Lathrop Homes公共住房社区长大，是家中第一个大学毕业的人。他说，自己之所以开始觉得上大学是有可能实现的，很大程度上是因为高中时期曾有一名Loyola学生为他辅导功课。Morales希望看到CPS与当地大学开展更多合作，让高中生了解大学是他们可以选择的一条道路。

Morales表示，他自2000年代初以来经营自己的律师事务所，这让他积累了平衡预算的经验。如果当选，他希望确保CPS“尽可能高效地使用每一美元”。

根据伊州选举委员会的记录，截至9月中旬，Morales尚未收到任何竞选捐款。

阅读Morales填写的完整候选人问卷。

Molly DeVore为Block Club Chicago报道芝加哥远西北区的社区，包括Portage Park、Jefferson Park、Norwood Park、Forest Glen和Sauganash。联系Molly：molly@blockclubchi.org。

La Raza: Jesus Ayala Jr., candidato del Distrito 7a

2026-10-06T16:01:37+00:00

La Raza: Emma Lozano, la candidata del Distrito 7a

2026-10-06T15:47:43+00:00

Colorado public school groups are jumping in on Trump-backed tax-credit scholarship program

2026-10-06T15:00:00+00:00

Colorado may be leading the way among a small band of optimists who see opportunity for public schools in a new Trump-backed tax credit that others say will spell doom.

A loose coalition of public school supporters in Colorado are hustling to take advantage of the program, which reimburses taxpayers up to $1,700 for donations to scholarship-granting organizations that then give the money to families for educational expenses. Supporters anticipate public school students could use the money for things like tutoring or SAT prep.

The reason for the rush is partly political: While Democratic Gov. Jared Polis was an early blue-state adopter of the idea, his term is coming to an end. The next governor might not be so keen — and he’ll have to renew Colorado’s participation in 2028 or the program won’t continue.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Weiser has said he’s a “firm no” on the program and that anyone who thinks it’s benign is either “naive or misleading people.”

“There is the urgency in Colorado to make sure we have a chance to give this a fair shot,” said Antonio Parés, a former teacher and consultant who is helping public school groups take part in the program. “We want to be able to demonstrate to whoever the next governor is that this is a mechanism that is worth keeping because it is benefiting public schools.”

The tax-credit scholarship program was passed by Congress as part of last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Set to go into effect Jan. 1, it has the potential to raise billions of new dollars for schools. Private school students who pay tuition are the most obvious beneficiaries, which is why so many public school advocates are skeptical if not outright hostile.

But the law allows public school students to take advantage of the scholarships, too — though doing so might take a bit more creativity.

“You can stand on principle and say, ‘We’re not going to do this because this is a voucher scheme,’ but then who benefits?” said Shannon Hancock, the chair of the Colorado Public Schools Foundation, an association of school district foundations, and executive director of the Five Star Education Foundation, which benefits the Adams 12 Five Star district.

Hancock and Parés are part of a group that has been meeting for months to brainstorm ideas. Parés said it started with simple questions: Could this money be used to pay for after-school tutoring? Advanced Placement test fees? Fifth-day programming in the more than 130 school districts, most of them small and rural, that operate on four-day school weeks?

Initial guidance does not go into detail about how the money could be spent. But Parés said the answer seems to be yes. Even if the program was created for private schools, Parés thinks public schools have a leg up.

“There’s just more potential donors in the public ed world than there are in the private ed world,” Parés said. “From a pure numbers game, this is way better for public ed.”

At least three Colorado organizations are jumping in: the Colorado Public Schools Foundation, the Denver Public Schools Foundation, and RESCHOOL, which has been giving out “learning dollars” to pay for everything from math tutoring to swim lessons for more than a decade.

All three are creating new, separate nonprofit organizations to serve as scholarship-granting organizations, or SGOs. Since only about 20 of Colorado’s more than 170 school districts have foundations, the idea behind the Colorado Public Schools Foundation SGO is to help all districts access the federal tax-credit money, Hancock said. Districts could sign an agreement with the statewide SGO that would allow local taxpayers to donate their $1,700 directly to that district.

Philanthropy currently funds all three organizations. That will likely continue. But the two school district foundations in particular are looking at the federal tax credit dollars as a new revenue stream that will allow them to redirect their philanthropic dollars elsewhere — and perhaps allow school districts to do the same with their state and local funding.

“My attitude is what’s good for a student makes that school better,” said Sara Hazel, the president and CEO of the Denver Public Schools Foundation, which raises money for the state’s largest district. “If a student is on grade level in reading and math, that will change that student’s trajectory in tangible ways. And the school will have the capacity to do other things.”

In an interview, Polis said one of the biggest challenges is the tight timeline. Colorado has until December to vet any SGOs that want to participate and submit a list to the federal government to cement the state’s participation in the program.

“I’ve talked to several governors about it,” he said. “I always start by saying: ‘As a Coloradan, I hope you don’t participate because then residents of your state can donate to Colorado. But as an American, I hope that you do because I care about the kids in your state, too.’”

Some blue-state governors might wait a year or two to see how the program plays out in Colorado and other Democratic strongholds before making a decision, said Michael Petrilli of the center-right Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Will public school students really benefit? Or will most of the money flow, as Petrilli predicts, to private schools?

Colorado’s next governor, who will likely be Weiser, might be watching with the same eye.

Chalkbeat National Editor Erica Meltzer contributed to this report.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Calls to increase evidence-based funding dominate Illinois education board hearing

2026-10-05T22:42:36+00:00

While the amount of money requested differed by each speaker, public feedback solicited on Monday by the Illinois State Board of Education to inform next year’s budget discussions revolved around one key issue: evidence-based funding.

Calls for increasing evidence-based funding — the state’s way of distributing money by calculating which K-12 public schools districts have the highest needs — dominated the conversation during the ISBE hearing. But state officials also heard about other funding changes Illinoisans want to see in their local schools. That feedback and future public input will be used to develop the board’s budgetary recommendations to the governor and the state legislature in January.

Here’s what Illinoisans have raised as funding needs for the next fiscal year so far.

EBF takes the spotlight in ISBE hearing

An Albany Park bilingual teacher, a rural superintendent from west central Illinois, and a paraprofessional from a district about 50 miles north of Chicago were just a few of the people who urged ISBE to advocate for more money in the state’s evidence-based funding. Funding requests ranged from about $500 million in additional money to a general recommendation of “fully funded” all Illinois public schools. Because schools are guaranteed to receive at least as much money as they received the year prior, the total funds for Illinois schools over the course of this fiscal year is more than $9.2 billion.

Illinois’ evidence-based funding formula calculates a school district’s financial needs based on several cost factors and student population needs. The formula helps the state determine which districts need more money through a tiered system. It’s up to state lawmakers and the governor to decide if they will allocate more funding.

Next year is the tenth year the state has used evidence-based funding. It has facilitated over $2 billion more for public schools since 2017. Nearly every year since its introduction, state lawmakers have committed to a $350 million increase in evidence-based funding.

Despite this significant spike in funding, Illinois school districts are still largely underfunded, according to the state’s funding formula. That means the state is slated to miss its original goal of fully funding schools by 2027.

Chicago Public Schools slipped from 73% to just over 70% funding adequacy this school year. CPS needs a larger windfall of money from the state as it continues to grapple with its significant budget deficit.

“The challenge is no longer designing the right formula. The challenge is funding it with sufficient urgency,” said Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago. “That has consequences in communities across Illinois, particularly those serving high concentrations of students living in poverty, English learners, and students with disabilities.”

Frustrations have only heightened as more than 700 districts are farther away from reaching their funding targets than they were a year ago because of growing financial demands. Some speakers shared how inadequate funding has led to overwhelming staff workloads or lack of mental health resources for students.

“This is not an accident. The state created the evidence-based funding formula. The state established the cost factors. The state established the adequacy targets. The state has told us through its own formula what it believes it costs to provide students with an adequate education,” said Megan Accardo, a paraprofessional from Grayslake Community Consolidated School District 46.

The Chicago Board of Education voted to approve a school year budget this summer that assumed the district would get $150 million additional dollars from the state. How much it will get won’t be determined until the state legislature reconvenes for its November veto session after the school board elections.

Career and technical education gets a few mentions

Aside from evidence-based funding, requests to allocate more money toward career and technical education emerged as a top priority for speakers. Gov. JB Pritzker has given more money in recent years to programs in fields such as automotive repair and healthcare, but some people said Monday that even more funding is needed to meet enrollment demands.

One speaker, Adam Seaney, director of Galesburg Area Vocational Center in northwestern Illinois, requested a $20 million increase in annual state funding for career and technical education programs. That money could be used to improve facilities, purchase new equipment, and retain staff.

“The requested funding will directly address these capacity issues, ensuring more students can access modern, high-quality programs that align with the needs of Illinois employers,” Seaney said.

Other funding requests made during Monday’s hearing included:

$46 million for afterschool programs.
$1.8 million for a principal recruitment initiative.
$5 million to support students experiencing homelessness.
$800,000 increase for agricultural education programming.
$67 million for free school meals.

ISBE has scheduled two more public input sessions this year. The next meeting will be held in person on Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Springfield. The last session of the year will be hosted virtually on Thursday, Nov. 5. Speaker sign-ups for both are still open.

Makiya Seminera is a reporter covering how the state and federal government affect education in Chicago and across Illinois. Contact Makiya at mseminera@chalkbeat.org.

Super PACs ramp up spending in Chicago’s school board elections

2026-10-05T22:38:01+00:00

Spending in Chicago’s school board election is surging, as special interest groups opposed to the Chicago Teachers Union step up their efforts to prevent the union from maintaining majority control.

Four super PACs — the Common Ground Collective, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, Urban Center, and Brighter Futures — have spent at least $3.5 million since July 15, the most recent deadline to report campaign spending to the state, according to campaign finance disclosures analyzed by Chalkbeat. It was enough to lift state spending restrictions in 12 of 21 races, which happens once one or more super PACs spend more than $100,000 in a single race.

The super PAC for the Common Ground Collective — an anti-CTU group formed roughly a year ago that says it’s pushing for “effective progressive policies” — has spent just over $2 million on advertising supporting or opposing candidates since July 15. It has taken in an additional $3.5 million since the end of June, when it reported more than $444,000 cash on hand. Nearly all of the more recent donations come from billionaire Michael Sacks, a donor to Democratic causes who has argued the union exerts too much influence over the district.

The advocacy group Illinois Network of Charter Schools has about $5 million in its super PAC’s coffers, according to its executive director, Andrew Broy, who said the network is unleashing as much as $4 million of it on school board races starting last week. Among other sizable recent donations, it got a $1.75 million check from business executive and charter advocate Jim Frank.

“Getting a majority on the board to be independent of CTU and the mayor is our No. 1 priority,” Broy said.

The Chicago Teachers Union decisively outspent all other groups during the city’s first school board elections in 2024, when voters picked 10 members. Mayor Brandon Johnson, a close union ally elected with CTU’s financial backing, appointed the remaining 11 members.

With roughly four weeks left before the Nov. 3 election and early voting underway, the union has not yet reported spending that matches its opponents, most of which have received sizable checks from wealthy Illinoisans in recent months. But that picture could yet shift: In 2024, the union concentrated the bulk of its spending in the final weeks before the election.

Matthew Luskin, the CTU’s chief of staff, said the union plans to spend in the upcoming weeks on field work, including flyering. It also expects volunteers will canvass, phone bank, and organize weekend events.

“We are not in a spending arms race with billionaires,” Luskin said.

Luskin believes that message — that billionaires are trying to gobble up influence over the school board — resonates with voters and “tells them something about the type of school system we will get if they’re able to just purchase the election.”

The union largely leans on member dues for campaign cash. But last spring, CTU members voted down a proposal to increase dues to help support political campaigns.

The CTU’s PAC reported having more than $377,000 on hand as of June 30. Since then, it’s reported receiving just under $15,000. A handful of candidates, including Hilario Dominguez, the former CTU deputy political director running for board president, have reported more than $300,000 in in-kind contributions from CTU for things like consulting and legal services. Our Schools PAC, the political spending arm of a pro-labor group that CTU is a part of, also had more than $300,000 in the bank at the end of June. Late last week, Dominguez reported Our Schools PAC spent about $305,000 on mailers supporting his candidacy.

Union for school support staff spends against CTU in some races

This fall, the CTU is also facing off against a former close ally — SEIU, which represents support staff in CPS — in some of the school board races. That union, which had accused CTU of attempting to raid some of its members, has backed its own slate of candidates, in some cases supporting CTU-endorsed ones and in others opting for their opponents.

SEIU Illinois State Council’s PAC, funded with the help of member dues, transferred at least $250,000 to a handful of its endorsed candidates over the past two months.

Brighter Futures Chicago, a new super PAC funded by SEIU Illinois State Council and chaired by the council’s executive director, Anthony Driver Jr., had a war chest of more than $1 million in early August. In recent weeks, Brighter Futures has spent just over $300,000 on digital ads, some text messaging, and field work in support of its endorsed candidates.

Driver said the union is getting heavily involved this time because it wants board members who will support students and its workers, many of whom faced layoffs last year. He also cited SEIU’s disagreement with the CTU-aligned school board passing a budget that relies on uncertain state money to reverse layoffs — a move that could result in disruptive midyear cuts.

Still, Driver insisted that the rift between SEIU and CTU has nothing to do with its involvement in the race.

“Our political spending, our political efforts, our door knocking, our organizing is not contingent on any other union,” Driver said.

Charter school proponents ramp up spending

Broy, of the charter advocacy group, said it’s important to his organization to elect school board members that will be supportive of charter schools, which operate with public funds under contract with the Chicago Board of Education.

The board oversees charters and determines whether to renew their contracts and for how long. The current board aligned with the CTU — a longtime critic of the charter sector — has delayed some renewals and often opted for shorter charter contracts and additional financial requirements, pointing to several recent abrupt charter closures and other fiscal turmoil.

Broy said the group will spend heavily on TV and social media advertising, direct mailers, and canvassing, with a special focus on six school board districts where more than 2,500 households with charter school parents live.

In late September, the network’s political action committee wrote its final checks going directly to candidates ahead of Nov. 3, Broy said. Last week, the network’s independent expenditure committee, or super PAC, took over, with roughly $1 million spent in support of 13 candidates and about $89,000 in opposition to one, Karen Zaccor, a current school board member who successfully advocated for more stringent financial oversight of charters. Super PACs can spend unlimited amounts to campaign, but they are not allowed to give directly to candidates’ campaigns or coordinate with them.

Broy rejected CTU’s criticism that rich out-of-towners who have donated to his group are helping them skew the election. Broy said donors such as Frank, an Evanston resident and former CEO of Wheels Inc., are “deeply invested in public education.” (Frank is also the chair of Intrinsic Schools, a Chicago charter school operator.)

Broy said last week that INCS has not decided whom to support in the high-stakes race for school board president, saying that it’s still trying to gauge which candidate has the best path to beating Dominguez, the CTU’s former deputy political director, who is running in that race.

Other anti-CTU groups also spend big

The Common Ground Collective also has not endorsed or donated to a candidate for school board president. But it has already spent more than half a million dollars on advertising opposing Dominguez.

“CGC is focused on leveling the playing field to ensure independent voices are represented on the Board as the CTU is expected to put millions more into these races than they did in 2024 when there were only half the number of seats on the ballot,” a spokesperson for the Common Ground Collective said in a statement.

Sacks, the key Common Ground Collective donor, wrote an open letter to CTU President Stacy Davis Gates earlier this year in which he pushed back on the CTU criticism of his involvement. He wrote he is “a lifelong Democrat who has fought for equality and for increased funding for public education” and decried the union’s “outsized influence over the district.”

The super PAC for Urban Center, a centrist, pro-school choice organization, spent big in 2024 and, in recent weeks, has focused on text messages supporting its preferred candidates.

Juan Rangel, chair of Urban Center Action and former charter school operator who a decade ago paid a federal fine to settle accusations of misleading investors, said they want to prevent a “power grab” by CTU. He batted down CTU’s argument that groups like his are using wealthy donors to buy the election. He said their end goal is to ensure more students are reading and doing math on grade level.

The super PAC received just over $150,000 since June 30 — all of that from two individual donors.

Rangel considers Common Ground and INCS as “like-minded” allies because they’re not involved with the teachers union and support similar ideas, such as school choice. As a result, if Urban Center notices that INCS or Common Ground are spending on mailers, they might go another route.

“Why should we double that?” Rangel said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

IPS seeks power to charge Innovation Network schools more money amid budget crunch

2026-10-05T20:48:30+00:00

Indianapolis Public Schools will seek changes that allow it to charge Innovation Network charter schools more for services like transportation, food service, and facilities support, as the district confronts a budget crunch.

As part of this process, the district expects its Board of Commissioners will vote to provide notices of termination of existing contracts with these Innovation schools, which receive some services from IPS but operate independently when it comes to instruction and staffing.

However, IPS will not end or interrupt contracts with Innovation schools this school year, and it has not sent any notices of termination, the district said in a Friday statement to Chalkbeat. IPS said sending those notices would be “a necessary legal step to explore more fiscally responsible arrangements.”

The district said it wants to continue the Innovation partnerships, but at the actual cost of the services it provides. Currently, Indiana law caps what it can charge. The district said that it will seek changes to that law during the next legislative session, which starts in January.

The statement from IPS is another sign that the district is trying to exert more control over its future in the wake of political upheaval. Last month, IPS officials decided to leave a universal enrollment platform that has served district and charter schools, a move that the school board declined to reverse. The Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, a new oversight body with members appointed by the mayor that began meeting over the summer, has assumed control over certain aspects of how public schools are run in the city and diluted IPS’ power.

IPS has signaled for some time that it would reevaluate its contracts with Innovation schools Last month, the district told its teachers union that it would reconsider Innovation Network agreements before resorting to district-wide educator layoffs to trim $20 million from its budget.

The district noted in its Friday statement that under a new state law known as SEA 1, IPS is getting less property tax revenue, and that the district must also share that money with charter schools within its borders.

“Put simply, the pie is getting smaller and is being cut into many more pieces,” IPS said.

It’s not clear which Innovation Network schools would be affected by any such changes to contracts, or when the school board could vote on sending notices of those contract terminations. There are a total of 30 Innovation schools.

IPS said it has been meeting with Innovation Network partners about the new fiscal landscape, but did not specify which schools it has met with.

Some Innovation schools are charter schools, but not all. Each has an agreement with the district that specifies an end date and outlines what services the district provides.

At Monarca Academy, which is co-located at Northwest Middle School, IPS provides custodial and food services, as well as transportation, and will continue to do so as the school expands to include high school grades, according to a June district presentation about the agreement.

But at Global Prep’s new building, the school will manage its own facility, IT, custodial, and food services, while IPS will coordinate transportation at a cost to the school.

A list of IPS Innovation Network schools can be found here.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

La Raza: Lo que las familias latinas deben saber antes de votar en la elección de la Junta de Educación de Chicago

2026-10-05T20:35:11+00:00

https://laraza.com/2026/08/28/lo-que-las-familias-latinas-deben-saber-antes-de-votar-en-la-eleccion-de-la-junta-de-educacion-de-chicago/

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Mamdani administration to enroll 10,000 NYC children from childcare voucher waitlist

2026-10-05T19:57:03+00:00

For the first time in more than a year, New York City will begin issuing childcare vouchers to thousands of children sitting on a ballooning waitlist for the popular program, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday.

The voucher program provides kids up to age 13 from low-income families an average of $300 a week to pay for childcare. Its waitlist had mushroomed to 30,000 as of last month, but in the coming days, city officials said they will begin awarding vouchers to 10,000 of those children.

“I am so proud to announce there is light at the end of the voucher tunnel,” Mamdani said Monday at a press conference in the Bronx. “For the first time in 15 months, NYC is taking children off the voucher waitlist, and this is only the beginning.”

Mamdani said the city will continue taking more kids off the waitlist “on a rolling basis” after the initial 10,000 offers.

The city will prioritize families with incomes below 300% of the federal poverty line, families experiencing homelessness, and families with children with disabilities, officials said.

The growing waitlist had become a top concern for families and advocates, who said clearing it could make an immediate dent in the city’s childcare affordability crisis.

The program surged in popularity in recent years after Gov. Kathy Hochul expanded eligibility and increased the value of the vouchers. New York City’s voucher enrollment has grown from around 40,000 in 2021 to roughly 113,000 today.

Even as the voucher program’s budget has grown to roughly $2 billion this fiscal year, city officials have struggled to keep up with demand.

Advocates and budget experts have contended for months that the city has untapped funds it could use to enroll more families. But city officials have taken a cautious approach, in part to ensure money was available if a surge of families receiving federal cash assistance — whose childcare the city is required to subsidize — requested vouchers.

The city’s promise to enroll 10,000 kids from the waitlist will rely on $475 million in state “matching funds” that Hochul committed to the city earlier this year, according to officials and budget experts. Those funds are only available if the city contributes an equal amount from its own coffers. A Mamdani spokesperson didn’t immediately confirm whether the city is contributing its own funds or where that money is coming from.

Hochul committed the $475 million in matching funds months ago as part of the state budget, but Mamdani said Monday the city needed time to fully review the voucher program’s finances and ensure it had the funds to continue providing the new vouchers until kids age out of the program.

“We do not want to celebrate something on Monday and then announce on Friday, actually there’s been an issue,” he said at the press conference.

The voucher program operates on a different model than Mamdani’s signature childcare initiative, 2-K. In that program, like the city’s free programs for 3- and 4-year-olds, the city directly funds providers — a model that gives the city more oversight and ability to set the parameters of the program.

But 2-K is also more expensive and logistically complicated to set up. Advocates and experts say that while the city is building those seats for 2-year-olds, the vouchers remain an important tool to get families free childcare.

Addressing the growing waitlist, families and childcare providers said, is a win-win: It makes an immediate dent in the childcare affordability crisis and helps providers fill seats and stabilize their budgets.

Tara Gardner, the executive director of the Day Care Council of New York, an umbrella organization for hundreds of childcare providers, said enrolling families off the voucher waitlist is the “most effective and immediate way to expand access.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Memphis schools takeover could begin once state takeover board is ready, judge says

2026-10-05T19:47:14+00:00

A federal judge appears poised to allow the state takeover of Memphis schools to move forward as soon as the oversight board says it’s ready to seize control of Tennessee’s largest school district.

U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw filed an order Monday indicating that he will soon remove a temporary block on the state-appointed board after months of delay. That came days after the first hearing on Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ lawsuit against the state takeover, where Crenshaw said he never intended the block to be long term.

Crenshaw ordered the oversight board chair to notify the court under oath once the board is “ready, willing, and able” to begin its work, a step that could allow the politically appointed board to assume control of the district within days.

Oversight board Chair Billy Orgel did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment on whether or when he would file a statement of readiness with the federal court. Chalkbeat also reached out to the Tennessee Attorney General’s office, who is representing the oversight board, for comment.

The state board was set to start its four-year term on July 1. But Crenshaw issued a temporary block on the takeover the day before, in an early win for MSCS and Shelby County officials challenging the law passed this spring authorizing the takeover.

District officials argued then that the new governance structure had no processes in place to handle major financial decisions like maintenance contracts that could significantly affect school operations ahead of the new school year. Early meetings in June revealed the board did not have established state emails or even a set location to hold its meetings.

It’s unclear whether the board has been working behind the scenes this fall to establish those processes, given Crenshaw’s earlier order.

Under the state takeover, the new state board — which includes a former MSCS superintendent and statewide teacher of the year — would seize control over the district’s annual budget and staffing decisions.

During Friday’s hearing, Crenshaw expressed skepticism about MSCS’ argument that the state takeover violates students’ constitutional rights and partially ruled in favor of the state by dismissing Gov. Bill Lee and other state leaders as defendants in the lawsuit.

Both sides are expected to file further court documents this month as Crenshaw considers dismissing the lawsuit altogether.

The members of the state oversight board, appointed by Tennessee Republican leaders this spring, are:

Chair Billy Orgel, a local developer and former Memphis-Shelby County school board member
Vice Chair Shanea McKinney of Cigna, who is a member of the University of Tennessee’s board of trustees
Secretary Nisha Powers, who leads a Memphis civil engineering firm and has served on the Tennessee Board of Regents
Dorsey Hopson, a former district superintendent
Dedrick Brittenum Jr., a Memphis lawyer and former City Council member
Beverly Robertson, a marketing executive and former president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce
Tyrone Burroughs, a Memphis CEO who sits on the Tennessee Lottery Commission and the Youth Villages’ board of directors
David Mansouri, the sole board member who is not a Shelby County resident and the Nashville-based leader of one of Tennessee’s most influential education advocacy organizations
Karen Vogelsang, a former Memphis teacher and 2015 Tennessee Teacher of the Year who now runs a literacy nonprofit

Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 8b

2026-10-05T19:06:21+00:00

Leer en inglés. Leer en chino.

Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

Juan Ignacio González, detective veterano del Departamento de Policía de Chicago (CPD) y dueño de una cafetería local, s, se enfrenta al estudiante universitario Alexander Angeles para representar Distrito 8b, una franja larga y estrecha que se extiende desde el Loop hasta Chicago Lawn, en el suroeste de la ciudad.

Angeles entró en la contienda como candidato por escrito a finales de agosto. A principios de este verano, la autoridad electoral de Chicago retiró de la boleta electoral a la miembro actual de la Junta y persona nombrada por el alcalde Brandon Johnson, Cydney Wallace, debido a impugnaciones a las firmas de sus peticiones, lo que dejó a González como el único candidato.

González, residente de Back of the Yards, dijo que lo que lo motivó a postularse para la Junta de Educación fue escuchar a padres preocupados porque los estudiantes estaban siendo utilizados como “peones políticos” durante el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores. El Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU) y las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS) llegaron a un acuerdo para mantener las escuelas abiertas el 1 de mayo y al mismo tiempo permitir actividades cívicas, después de algunas diferencias sobre si se debían cancelar las clases para realizar manifestaciones.

“Los padres hablaban de algunos de los desafíos y los bajos estándares académicos que enfrentamos… y son temas con los que estoy de acuerdo”, dijo. “Siento que en mi comunidad no hay una voz para las personas que, muchas veces, no pueden votar o no forman parte del sistema político. Me pidieron que considerara postularme, analicé la situación y sentí que podía ayudar a los niños de la comunidad”.

Angeles, quien se graduó recientemente de CPS y estudia ciencias políticas en la Universidad de Illinois Chicago, dijo que se postula para ser una voz para los estudiantes, algo que considera que hace falta entre los miembros de la Junta de Educación.

González forma parte del Departamento de Policía de Chicago desde 1999. Durante ese tiempo, miembros del público han presentado 25 denuncias de conducta indebida en su contra, todas las cuales fueron consideradas infundadas, según los registros públicos recopilados por Civic Police Data Project, o CPDP por sus siglas en inglés.

En 2013, Hernan Barron, quien entonces tenía 21 años, acusó a González de haberlo inmovilizado contra la pared de una planta empacadora de carne con su vehículo policial durante un arresto. Barron sufrió una pequeña herida punzante en una pierna y fue llevado a un hospital para recibir atención médica. Una investigación interna de la policía determinó, con base en evidencia de video, que González no había cometido ninguna falta, según muestran los registros.

Más tarde ese mismo año, Barron presentó una demanda federal contra González y la ciudad, solicitando una indemnización por su lesión y por el dolor y sufrimiento emocional. La Ciudad llegó a un acuerdo por $98,000, según el CPDP.

“Durante casi 27 años en el Departamento de Policía de Chicago, he participado en miles de investigaciones relacionadas con algunos de los delitos más graves que afectan a Chicago, desde homicidios y tiroteos hasta agresiones sexuales y otros delitos violentos”, dijo González en una declaración enviada por correo electrónico. “Mi trayectoria en materia de seguridad pública y servicio comunitario no es algo que pueda entenderse por completo a través de una base de datos en internet. Proviene de casi 27 años de servir a Chicago y de seguir viviendo, trabajando, invirtiendo y sirviendo en la comunidad que considero mi hogar”.

“Vivo aquí. Camino por estas calles. Soy dueño de un negocio y lo administro”, destacó González. “Conozco a las familias, los residentes y los dueños de negocios de aquí, y la gente sabe que puede acercarse a mí cuando necesita ayuda u orientación”.

“El lugar donde ocurrió ese incidente también es importante para entender quién soy”, agregó. “Ocurrió aproximadamente a cuatro cuadras de donde vivo actualmente y a seis cuadras de mi cafetería. Esta no es simplemente una zona a la que me asignaron para trabajar. Es mi comunidad”.

En 2025, González abrió DreamCatcher Café, una cafetería de Back of the Yards ubicada en West 47th Street.

Además de la cafetería, González es propietario de más de una docena de propiedades en el suroeste de Chicago, según registros públicos. En una entrevista de 2023 con un pódcast sobre bienes raíces, González dijo que desde joven participó con su familia en la renovación de edificios, y que más adelante comenzó a comprar y rehabilitar propiedades por su cuenta.

“Existen riesgos tanto físicos como financieros que vienen con servir e invertir en una comunidad que ha vivido violencia grave”, destacó González en su declaración. “He decidido asumir esos riesgos porque creo en esta comunidad y seguiré haciéndolo”.

González es veterano del Cuerpo de Marines de Estados Unidos e hijo de padres inmigrantes de México. Asistió a la Universidad de Illinois en Chicago. Dijo que quiere que las escuelas del distrito tengan estándares académicos altos que desafíen a los estudiantes, muchos de los cuales también provienen de familias inmigrantes.

“Queremos competir, queremos que nos exijan”, dijo. “Como estadounidense de primera generación, no quiero que piensen que valgo menos simplemente porque vengo de cierto código postal”.

González también quiere mejorar la enseñanza de matemáticas y lectura y considera que las escuelas podrían ampliar sus programas de educación técnica y preparación profesional. Dijo que ofrecer vías hacia carreras en la construcción podría beneficiar a los jóvenes inmigrantes recién llegados que se han establecido en el suroeste de Chicago y que “quieren crear cosas con sus propias manos”.

“Tenemos una increíble mentalidad creativa en nuestra comunidad: en las artes, en la manera en que arreglamos propiedades”, agregó.

González también quiere analizar cómo las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago utilizan su presupuesto y cómo podrían utilizarselos recursos para mejorar la calidad de la educación.

“¿Por qué estamos perdiendo estudiantes y contribuyentes que se van a los suburbios?”, preguntó. “Somos una ciudad de clase mundial y esperamos una educación de clase mundial”.

González ha recibido contribuciones de The Urban Center, organización política centrista que promueve la elección de escuelas, y del brazo político de Illinois Network of Charter Schools, que aboga por las escuelas charter financiadas con fondos públicos y administradas de manera independiente. También cuenta con el apoyo de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política anti CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de González.

Angeles decidió entrar en la contienda después de enterarse de que Wallace, la actual miembro de la Junta, había sido retirada de la boleta electoral.

Angeles asistió a John Hancock College Prep, una escuela secundaria del suroeste de Chicago, donde fue representante estudiantil del Consejo Escolar Local. Durante su tiempo en Hancock, Angeles dice que escuchó las preocupaciones de estudiantes sobre el impacto de los recortes presupuestarios en todo el distrito, la necesidad de mejorar la comida escolar y de recibir más apoyo de los maestros.

“Si queremos tomar decisiones para la próxima generación, entonces necesitamos a alguien que forme parte de esa generación para encabezar esa lucha”, dijo.

Hijo de padres inmigrantes, Angeles también trabaja como cajero en McDonald’s y como especialista en autopartes en O’Reilly Auto Parts para ayudar económicamente a su familia, una experiencia con la que otros estudiantes pueden identificarse, dijo. Vive en West Lawn, que forma parte del distrito que busca representar.

Aunque entiende que algunos votantes podrían mostrarse escépticos ante la candidatura de alguien que se graduó recientemente de la secundaria, dijo que conoce los problemas que actualmente afectan a los estudiantes y que tiene la determinación para resolverlos.

“Estoy lleno de energía”, dijo. “Esa es la ventaja de ser joven”.

Angeles dice que su plataforma coincide con la del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago, que incluye una firme oposición al cierre de escuelas. Pero si resulta elegido, dice que planea buscar acuerdos con los demás miembros de la Junta en temas que generan divisiones.

Francia García Hernández cubre Pilsen, La Villita y Back of the Yards para Block Club Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Francia en francia@blockclubchi.org.

A judge said this Colorado school board picked a member in secret. Now there will be a do-over.

2026-10-05T18:40:43+00:00

Nearly eight months after appointing a new board member to a vacant seat, a southern Colorado school board must redo the pick to comply with two court decisions in a case over open meetings law violations.

The Pueblo School District 70 school board, which has been awash in controversy after last year allowing a “public Christian school” to open within its boundaries, will discuss the process for selecting a fifth member at Tuesday’s meeting, according to the agenda.

A district court judge in August ruled the appointment of Susie Carnes, who had been serving as the board’s fifth member since February, invalid because it wasn’t done publicly. The school board appealed, but in late September a three-judge state appeals court panel declined to pause the ruling while the appeal moves forward.

The school board’s do-over pick could change the board’s leanings and the trajectory of district decision-making. Carnes, who was part of a 3-2 conservative majority, could again be selected. But if a different candidate fills the seat, it’s possible the board could drop the open meetings lawsuit appeal.

The lawsuit was brought by three school board candidates who were not selected during the February appointment process. Besides its own legal costs, the district may have to pay the plaintiffs’ attorney fees — nearly $75,000 as of Sept. 1, according to court records.

The court rulings and the mandate to reappoint a fifth member represent a rebuttal to School Board President Ann Bennett, who appointed Carnes to the vacant seat via email in February. She did so six days after breaking quorum at a board meeting when she faced the possibility that a board candidate she didn’t support could be appointed. She left the meeting unannounced, which prevented an appointment from happening then.

Under state law, school board presidents can appoint a member if the board can’t agree on a candidate after 60 days. Before the Pueblo 70 board member became ill, the board had deadlocked on picking a candidate in numerous 2-2 votes.

But Pueblo District Court Judge Michelle Chostner in her August ruling said Bennett’s appointment of Carnes broke the law because it was done over email with no public notice.

“The appointment was done in secret: precisely the type of formal action the (Colorado Open Meetings Law) prohibits,” Chostner wrote.

Carnes’ photo and bio is no longer on the district’s school board web page.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La contienda por la presidencia

2026-10-05T17:30:16+00:00

Leer en inglés. Leer en chino.

La primera contienda de toda la ciudad para elegir al presidente de la Junta de Educación de Chicago tiene todos los elementos de un drama político: millones de dólares en contribuciones de campaña, el respaldo de grupos de interés y dos candidatos que se retiró a mitad de la contienda.

Los votantes de toda la ciudad elegirán entre cuatro candidatos para liderar la Junta de Educación de Chicago el 3 de noviembre. Por primera vez, el presidente de la Junta será elegido directamente por los votantes, poniendo fin a más de 30 años de control de la Junta por parte del alcalde. La persona que ocupe este poderoso cargo, por el cual no recibe salario, representará públicamente a la Junta, dirigirá sus reuniones y ayudará a establecer la agenda. Trabajará con otros 20 miembros para definir una visión y metas para las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS) durante los próximos cuatro años.

Hilario Domínguez, exsubdirector político del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU), quien se graduó y trabajó en CPS, se postula con una plataforma progresista que incluye ampliar el acceso al preescolar a todos los niños de 3 años y exigir más fondos estatales para la educación, en lugar de hacer recortes. El CTU está financiando la candidatura de Domínguez mientras busca mantener su control sobre la Junta de Educación, que obtuvo después de que Brandon Johnson, exorganizador del sindicato, fuera electo alcalde de Chicago en 2023.

Jessica Biggs, exdirectora de una escuela de CPS y actual miembro de la Junta de Educación, quiere dar prioridad a la estabilidad financiera y a una educación de alta calidad para todos los estudiantes. Cuenta con el respaldo del progresista Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios (SEIU) Local 73, que representa principalmente a trabajadores negros y latinos de CPS con salarios bajos y que mantiene una fuerte disputa con el CTU. También ha consolidado el apoyo de la comunidad empresarial y de exfuncionarios que trabajaron bajo el exalcalde Rahm Emanuel, entre ellos la exdirectora ejecutiva de CPS Janice Jackson y la exvicealcaldesa de educación Beth Swanson.

El abogado Victor Henderson, quien forma parte de la junta de Urban Prep Charter Academy, centra su campaña en mejorar el rendimiento de los estudiantes y promover la responsabilidad fiscal. Eliminó los límites de contribuciones de campaña al prestarle $500,000 a su propia campaña y ha conseguido el respaldo de dos congresistas negros, destacados abogados y pastores de grandes iglesias negras del sur y oeste de Chicago, entre ellos Michael Pfleger de St. Sabina y Byron Brazier de Apostolic Church of God.

El consultor de liderazgo Sendhil Revuluri, quien formó parte de la Junta de Educación durante la administración de la exalcaldesa Lori Lightfoot, se retiró de la contienda el 30 de septiembre. El promete enfocarse en el aprendizaje de los estudiantes y la participación comunitaria.

Una quinta candidata, Jennifer Custer, exmaestra que actualmente forma parte de la Junta, se retiró de la contienda a finales de agosto.

Todos los candidatos dicen que se postulan porque quieren que CPS brinde un mejor servicio a los estudiantes y las familias. Sin embargo, sus enfoques son muy diferentes: Biggs quiere enfocarse en lograr que la Junta funcione mejor; y Henderson, en aportar una perspectiva externa a problemas como la crisis presupuestaria y el financiamiento de las escuelas chárter. Domínguez propone grandes iniciativas, como ampliar el acceso de los jóvenes a empleos, pasantías pagadas y programas de mentoría.

Sólo Domínguez descarta el cierre de escuelas ante la constante pérdida de matrícula del distrito, aunque los demás dicen que trabajarían con las comunidades y procederían con mucho cuidado al considerar fusiones de escuelas. Henderson consideraría abrir más escuelas chárter administradas por entidades privadas y quiere que reciban mayor apoyo, mientras que los demás examinarían con mayor rigor las escuelas charter existentes.

El pasillo que conduce a la oficina de Henderson en el centro de Chicago está cubierto de artículos de periódico enmarcados sobre clientes que ha representado como reconocido abogado defensor: el actor Jussie Smollett, quien fue acusado de supuestamente fingir un ataque racista; el concejal William Beavers, quien fue declarado culpable de evasión fiscal; Jackie Robinson West Little League, al que le retiraron su título del campeonato estadounidense de la Serie Mundial; y una directora de CPS que presentó una demanda después de ser destituida por su Consejo Escolar Local.

Henderson es el único candidato de la contienda que no tiene experiencia como educador. Sin embargo, los cuatro hijos adultos de Henderson asistieron a escuelas primarias de CPS en Beverly y a escuelas secundarias de admisión selectiva.

Henderson no sólo es abogado, sino también excontador público certificado. Dice que sabe interpretar contratos, entender presupuestos y enfrentarse a intereses poderosos.

“En esa Junta se necesita la combinación adecuada de personas”, dijo. “Tiene que haber padres. Tiene que haber directores escolares. Tiene que haber miembros de la comunidad, pero también tiene que haber abogados y quizás médicos”.

Henderson decidió postularse para presidente de la Junta después de incorporarse a lo que él llama la junta de recuperación de Urban Prep Academies. En ese momento, en 2023, la Junta de Educación intentaba cerrar la red de escuelas chárter después de que el inspector general de CPS encontrara prácticas financieras “pésimas”, entre ellas gastos sin justificar, préstamos con altas tasas de interés y la necesidad de adelantos de efectivo. El fundador y exdirector ejecutivo de Urban Prep fue acusado recientemente de malversar más de $100,000 de la organización.

Henderson atribuye los problemas de Urban Prep a una mala administración, pero dice que el intento de cerrar la red de escuelas chárter, que atiende casi exclusivamente a estudiantes hombres negros, fue un error. Funcionarios de Urban Prep dicen que sus estudiantes hombres negros obtienen mejores resultados académicos que los de escuelas administradas por el distrito, un grupo de estudiantes que históricamente ha quedado rezagado frente a otros grupos. “No se puede hacer sufrir a esos estudiantes y sus familias”.

Henderson formó parte de un grupo de hombres negros que se movilizó en apoyo de Urban Prep. La organización chárter demandó a CPS y pudo mantener abiertas dos escuelas.

Henderson dice que CPS necesita apoyar mejor a las escuelas chárter. Se muestra receptivo al argumento de que los operadores de estas escuelas deberían recibir más fondos de CPS.

Henderson comentó que encargaría una auditoría forense. Si esta determina que CPS necesita ingresos adicionales, destacó que cuenta con las habilidades necesarias para ir a Springfield y presentar el caso.

Señaló que quiere ocupar el cargo porque la educación le importa profundamente.

“Los hombres con educación tienen más probabilidades de casarse y formar familias. Uno se siente mejor consigo mismo”, dijo. “Los datos muestran que, como regla general, mientras más nivel educativo se tiene, más se gana. La educación simplemente transforma vidas”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Henderson.

La miembro de la Junta de Educación, Jessica Biggs, dice que su experiencia al encabezar el año pasado la búsqueda del líder principal del distrito la motivó a postularse para la presidencia.

Biggs comenta que logró que todos los miembros de la Junta llegaran a un acuerdo sobre la descripción del puesto de superintendente después de lo que describe como un proceso “auténtico” para recopilar opiniones de la comunidad.

“Eso simplemente me demostró lo que era posible cuando había liderazgo”, dijo.

Pero el proceso se vino abajo después de que los nombres de los candidatos se hicieran públicos y uno de ellos se retirara. Biggs destacó que considera que lo ocurrido fue consecuencia de las divisiones políticas dentro de la Junta, algo que la desmoralizó hasta el punto de decidir que no quería volver a postularse como miembro de la Junta.

“Hubo momentos en los que realmente quería que ciertas cosas avanzaran o fueran sometidas a una votación pública, y no pude lograrlo”, dijo Biggs.

Biggs se dio cuenta de que, para tener el impacto que buscaba, necesitaba asumir un papel de liderazgo en la definición de la agenda de la Junta. La manera de hacerlo era postularse para la presidencia, aseguró.

“Si iba a seguir dedicando mi tiempo a esta Junta”, comentó Biggs, “para mí era importante poder tener esa autoridad”.

Biggs creció en Wheaton, actualmente vive en Douglas y tiene una hija que estudia en una escuela magnet de bellas artes.

Biggs fue una de tres integrantes elegidas en 2024 sin el respaldo de poderosos grupos de interés, entre ellos el CTU e Illinois Network of Charter Schools. Ganó su contienda con alrededor del 45% de los votos a pesar de que sus contrincantes gastaron mucho más. La noche de las elecciones, dijo que sentía que la gente quería miembros independientes en la Junta. “Me siento muy querida”, añadió.

Trabaja para Southwest Organizing Project, organización comunitaria del suroeste de Chicago, en una iniciativa que conecta a las comunidades escolares con diversos servicios.

Biggs fue despedida como directora de una escuela primaria del sur de Chicago en 2018 después de que un informe del inspector general determinara que instruyó al personal para que registrara a estudiantes como impuntuales aunque hubieran faltado gran parte del día escolar y que hizo que miembros del personal recogieran a niños en sus automóviles sin obtener permiso por escrito de sus padres.

Fue incluida en la lista de CPS de personas que “no se deben contratar”. Sin embargo, fue retirada de la lista el año pasado, después de que se rechazaran intentos anteriores de salir de ella. Biggs ha sostenido que su despido tuvo motivaciones políticas.

Durante sus dos años en la Junta, se ha opuesto a algunas de las medidas más importantes impulsadas por miembros nombrados por el alcalde y alineados con el CTU. El año pasado se mantuvo firme contra la propuesta de recurrir a un préstamo para evitar recortes. Este verano votó en contra de una modificación que revirtió despidos bajo el supuesto de que el estado proporcionaría más fondos a CPS.

Desde que se postuló hace dos años, pasó de responder “no” al cierre de escuelas a dejar esa pregunta en blanco en nuestro cuestionario para la Junta de Educación de CPS. Dice que no considera que exista una respuesta de sí o no.

“Creo que esta es una falsa dicotomía”, aseguró Biggs. “Hay lugares en este distrito donde las necesidades de los niños están siendo atendidas por escuelas pequeñas, y hay lugares donde las necesidades de los niños no están siendo atendidas por lo que ofrecemos en una escuela”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Biggs.

Después de meses de especulación sobre qué candidato respaldaría el CTU para el principal cargo de la Junta, el sindicato eligió a uno de los suyos al respaldar a Domínguez, quien dejó su puesto en el sindicato antes de lanzar su campaña. Domínguez dice que no se arrepiente de sus años como firme defensor del sindicato. Es el único candidato a la presidencia que trabajó como maestro de tiempo completo en CPS y también es esposo de una subdirectora escolar del distrito.

Domínguez asegura que su defensa de la educación se remonta a cuando era estudiante de Whitney Young Magnet High School, donde organizó una protesta estudiantil para oponerse a recortes presupuestarios en 2010.

Originario de Pilsen, trabajó como maestro de educación especial en el suroeste de Chicago. Se tomó dos años fuera de la educación para enfocarse en campañas políticas, incluida su propia candidatura fallida al Concejo Municipal. Más adelante ayudó a organizar una huelga de maestros de 11 días en 2019, cuando fue arrestado junto con otros miembros del sindicato durante una protesta sentada en las oficinas del fallido megaproyecto Lincoln Yards. Posteriormente se retiraron los cargos por allanamiento en su contra y contra los demás manifestantes.

Después de comenzar a trabajar de tiempo completo para el CTU en 2022, Domínguez también trabajó en la campaña que llevó a Johnson a la alcaldía y en las candidaturas de miembros de la Junta respaldados por el CTU en 2024. El sindicato gastó considerablemente más que grupos bien financiados que promueven la elección de escuelas en esas contiendas. Ayudó a conseguir victorias en tres de las nueve contiendas disputadas.

Domínguez dijo que a lo largo de los años ha realizado más de 100 viajes a Springfield para hacer cabildeo, “más que todos mis contrincantes juntos”. Sin embargo, hasta ahora los esfuerzos por conseguir un aumento significativo de los fondos estatales para las escuelas no han tenido éxito. Domínguez dice que, como presidente, trabajaría para involucrar a más familias en las labores de cabildeo y movilizar a distritos escolares de todo el estado.

Propone ofrecer preescolar gratuito de día completo a todos los niños de 3 años de la ciudad mediante una colaboración con centros privados de cuidado infantil y guarderías en hogares. Afirma que este cambio impulsaría el desarrollo económico, aumentaría la matrícula del distrito y “haría lo correcto por las familias” al reducir los costos del cuidado infantil.

Las demás prioridades de Domínguez también coinciden estrechamente con las del sindicato. Dijo que impulsará una mejor calidad de la comida en las cafeterías y la expansión continua del programa de Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables.

Se opone firmemente a cualquier cierre de escuelas y sostiene que el distrito y la ciudad deberían utilizar los espacios vacíos de las “supuestas escuelas subutilizadas” para ampliar servicios como clínicas de salud y sucursales de bibliotecas.

“Cuando hablamos de escuelas con baja matrícula, debemos dejar claro que hablamos principalmente de estudiantes negros y latinos en vecindarios negros y latinos que merecen más inversión y no castigo”, aseguró.

En 2021, Domínguez enfrentó una queja de otro maestro, quien afirmó que Domínguez hizo un saludo nazi, lo llamó Hitler frente a estudiantes y cuestionó la orientación sexual de ese maestro. La queja fue retirada posteriormente. Domínguez calificó la denuncia de “infundada” y dijo que estaba enfrentándose a un colega racista que había faltado al respeto a un estudiante.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Domínguez.

Nota del editor: Este artículo se actualizó después de que Sendhil Revuluri retirara su candidatura el 30 de septiembre. Aún puede leer el cuestionario completo de Revuluri.

Mila Koumpilova es reportera sénior de Chalkbeat Chicago y cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Mila en mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Sarah Karp cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago para WBEZ y el Chicago Sun-Times. Puede comunicarse con Sarah en skarp@wbez.org.

Voter guide: CU Board of Regents candidates on tuition, AI, and federal oversight

2026-10-05T15:00:00+00:00

On Nov. 3, Colorado voters in three congressional districts will select a representative for the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

Read all of Chalkbeat's 2026 election coverage

The election features one open regent seat in Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District after Democrat Callie Rennison announced last year she won’t run for reelection. Colorado’s 6th and 7th district races feature Democratic Party incumbents. The regents serve six-year terms.

Democrats currently have a 5 to 4 majority control of the board, which creates policy and makes funding decisions that govern CU Boulder, CU Denver, CU Colorado Springs, and the state’s medical campus CU Anschutz.

Ahead of the election, candidates from each district answered Chalkbeat Colorado questions about how they would respond to five issues if elected.

Memphis schools takeover could move forward soon

2026-10-02T22:03:38+00:00

A state oversight board appointed to take over Memphis schools may soon take charge of Tennessee’s largest school district.

U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw said he is prepared to dissolve his order blocking the board from taking control of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Crenshaw made the comment during a court hearing Friday in which he closely questioned attorneys for the Memphis-Shelby County school board.

“Whenever the oversight board is ready to do business, I’m going to dissolve my order,” Crenshaw said.

Crenshaw also sided with Tennessee attorneys on a motion to dismiss Gov. Bill Lee, Education Commissioner Lizette Reynolds, and legislative leaders as defendants in the pending lawsuit.

After a summer of uncertainty over whether and when the state takeover would move forward, Friday’s hearing suggested the oversight board could soon begin exercising its authority while leaving questions about how the takeover will proceed. The takeover was established under a new state law that created a nine-person politically appointed oversight board and was scheduled to take effect July 1.

The school district quickly sued over the law in June and asked Crenshaw to temporarily block the oversight board ahead of the new school year. The district argued its elected school board and superintendent needed to maintain financial control over critical district purchases and contracts, including school maintenance.

When Crenshaw issued the temporary block on July 1, the oversight board was newly formed and had no formal infrastructure to review district purchases. In June, the newly named board was still grappling with where to hold meetings and whether members would be issued state email addresses.

Crenshaw on Friday suggested he didn’t intend for his summer order to be a long-term block of the takeover if the new board was able to begin its work.

He also appeared skeptical about portions of the elected school board’s argument, including its claim that the new state law giving appointees authority over Memphis schools violates students’ constitutional rights. Attorneys have argued the law unfairly targets Memphis by taking power away from its elected school board.

“They don’t have a constitutional right to who manages the school,” Crenshaw said.

State attorneys have asked Crenshaw to dismiss the lawsuit altogether, arguing it does not belong in federal court. Crenshaw gave the local school board another week to file amended arguments detailing specific harm the state takeover causes students.

Until Crenshaw clarifies his order or issues a new one, the elected school board will maintain control of the district. But if the pause is lifted, the oversight board could move quickly on major district decisions involving contracts, the overall budget, school closures, and even the superintendent’s contract.

Even if Crenshaw lifts the current pause, the district’s overall lawsuit challenging the state law could move forward.

Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.

The Lilly Endowment is pouring millions into Indy school buildings. What does that mean for students?

2026-10-02T21:09:45+00:00

When Herron High School students put on a performance, there’s a challenge: The school doesn’t have a theater.

Instead, students create one inside the technical theater classroom, by moving stacks of costumes and props to other parts of the school, behind partition walls used to create separate classrooms.

The school has long improvised space in its historic building, a former art museum. But school leaders say they worry about how this shortchanges students.

“We have always been short on space,” said Janet McNeal, the president of Herron Schools, a charter network that includes Herron High and two other schools.

But construction is set to begin on a new theater adjacent to Herron’s main buildings. The project is funded by what school leaders describe as a once-in-a-generation $25 million donation from the Lilly Endowment.

The theater is one of several projects being funded in 19 school districts and charter schools by final phase of the endowment’s Marion County K-12 Public Schools Initiative representing $348 million in spending.

It is a historic infusion of money from a single donor to build and renovate public school buildings in Indianapolis — an undertaking that would normally require state or taxpayer approval, and would likely be out of reach. It’s provided tangible and significant benefits to schools that often struggle to fund such projects, while raising questions about oversight and the responsibility to fund schools.

The Lilly Endowment has become a key player in education funding in Indiana, putting up the bulk of the funding for the state’s shift to the science of reading in 2022. Overall, the endowment gave $1.2 billion to K-12, higher education, and youth initiatives in the state in 2025, up from $456 million the year before.

On the one hand, the endowment’s approach allows schools to fund buildings without leaning on taxpayers, especially during an election season in which schools already are seeking tax increases for basic operations, Christopher Lubienski, a professor of education policy at Indiana University and Director of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.

The risk, he said, is that donors “start funding things that lawmakers should — they supplant that public funding. Is that a good thing? It saves taxpayers money, but they also lose democratic control.”

In response to questions from Chalkbeat, the Endowment says it intends for its “funding to be complementary to the support that schools receive from other sources, including public funding.”

(The Lilly Endowment is a Chalkbeat funder. Learn more about our funding here.)

Unclear if Lilly Endowment will fund IPS projects

Indiana has turned to donors to support education programs before. After cutting state funding for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in 2025, Gov. Mike Braun announced the program would be donor-funded. The fundraising campaign reached 90% of its goal earlier this year, but Braun’s office has not disclosed how much it has raised.

One notable absence from the list of districts receiving the initiative’s funding, at least so far, is Indianapolis Public Schools.

Late last year, the endowment said it was delaying a decision about paying for IPS projects until after an Indianapolis-based task force released its recommendations about changing control over local public schools, including their buildings. Those recommendations led to the creation of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, which has the power to take control of some school buildings, including those funded by private donors, although the process behind that is still in the works.

Indianapolis Public Schools must share its facilities under the facilities plan IPEC will eventually create.

It’s unclear if IPS said in its application for endowment funding that it would use the money for buildings. But the changes in governance create ongoing uncertainty about whether the Lilly Endowment would be willing to fund buildings for IPS that are subject to IPEC’s rules and could be shared with other entities.

The endowment said last month it still has not made a final decision about IPS projects. (Private schools in Marion County are also receiving endowment funding through a separate initiative.)

Charter schools are not required to participate in IPEC’s facilities sharing plan, and Herron likely won’t. McNeal, who also sits on the IPEC board, said the school is not counting on IPEC to provide a building for its growing enrollment.

As part of this latest grant, Herron will need to match about 20% of the project’s costs costs of the project — or around $5 million — through fundraising.

With 961 students, Herron High School in 2026 enrolled more than twice as many students as it projected when it first opened in the basement of the Harrison Center in 2006. That’s led to a squeeze on space beyond theater productions.

The school uses every classroom every class period, said Katie Dorsey, senior vice president for academic affairs. A handful of Advanced Placement classes have spilled over to the administrative building across the street. Students also take a four-minute walk to the Harrison Center for gym and dance classes.

Even after the expansion, the school will not have a gym. But it will have a larger kitchen, new science labs built to be labs rather than art galleries, and the new theater, which will double as a gathering space — something the school has long needed, McNeal said.

“We weren’t able to be a community in the way that we wanted to be, and this is going to allow that,” McNeal said.

School districts use funding for career-focused facilities

The Metropolitan School District of Perry Township received the largest grant from the Lily Endowment’s public schools initiative: $40 million. The bulk of that funding, $30 million, will pay for a new building earmarked for the district’s entrepreneurship pathway that will teach broadly applicable business skills.

Construction began on the building last month on the University of Indianapolis campus. When it opens in the 2028-29 school year, it will be the first high school career center located on a college campus in Indiana.

Dr. Patrick Spray, superintendent of Perry Township schools, speaks at a groundbreaking for the district's innovation pathway building on the University of Indianapolis campus on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.

“The secret sauce to this is that when we focus on entrepreneurship and innovation, it crosses so many different industries and careers,” Perry schools Superintendent Patrick Spray said. “Kids will have a lot of different opportunities to pursue their passions.”

A dedicated building for the pathway would not have been possible without the grant, Spray said.

Similarly, the Metropolitan School District of Warren Township is using its $30 million Lilly Endowment grant to expand its middle school career education offerings from one career preparedness class to new career classrooms on every middle school campus.

Although the funding doesn’t come from a tax measure approved by voters, the centers address feedback from the community that the district should give students more opportunities to explore careers and graduate with credentials and certificates, said Ryan Russell, associate superintendent of academics, assessment, and achievement.

The grant is unique in the district’s history, Russell said.

Through the grant, Warren will renovate old career technical education spaces — clearing out drill presses and bandsaws that have sat inactive for years — into new more-flexible career classrooms called Journey of a Graduate Centers, Russell said.

“Career paths will change, and middle schoolers will work in fields that haven’t been created yet,” he said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

NYC school board reluctantly approves $1.65M Oracle contract extension after earlier defeat

2026-10-02T20:33:49+00:00

A month after New York City’s school board failed to approve a technology contract with the software giant Oracle — prompting officials to warn of possible disruptions to “mission critical” systems — the board reversed course this week.

The city’s Panel for Educational Policy approved a $1.65 million extension with Oracle, after city officials said spiking the contract could disrupt human resources help centers that serve more than 150,000 employees. The contract also supports an enrollment support center that fields about 1,000 calls a day on issues ranging from student transportation and special education.

The deal represents a fraction of the Education Department’s roughly $13 billion spending on outside contracts. But the board’s August contract rejection was notable: Mayor Zohran Mamdani had just appointed the majority of its members and still could not muster the 13 votes necessary to approve the administration’s proposed contract.

The contract passed Wednesday evening, with 16 members voting yes and four no votes. Two mayoral appointees — Maddy Fox and and Tariq Kahn — abstained. (In August, the vote failed with nine votes in favor, six opposed, and two abstentions, falling four votes short.)

Skepticism of the contract, including from mayoral appointees, suggests that the board may not hesitate to buck the mayor’s wishes, as the board has grown increasingly independent.

Decisions about what technology the Education Department deploys, and which companies it does business with, are under increasing scrutiny. City officials have been rethinking what role artificial intelligence and other software should play in the city’s classrooms and have issued major restrictions this school year.

Several members of the public, including activists and educators, had urged the panel not to approve the contract. They cited the company’s investment in AI, even as city officials insisted there was “no AI use associated with this contract.” Others pointed to the company’s co-founder Larry Ellison, who has embraced AI and supported President Donald Trump’s 2024 election bid.

Those arguments gained traction with some panel members, some of whom wondered whether the Education Department could do the same work in house rather than contracting it out.

“Fruits of the Ellison tree are all poison,” Adriana Alicea, a board member appointed by Queens parent leaders, said at the Wednesday meeting before voting no on the contract.

On Wednesday, some panel members seemed torn about whether to approve it given the city’s dire warnings about disruptions to crucial systems.

Fox, a mayoral appointee, said the panel had been “grappling with this” but “there are limited options for the DOE in relation to this contract.” She noted the deal is part of a broader city government contract with Oracle. (She did not respond to an emailed question about why she abstained from the contract vote.)

Board member Greg Faulkner, also a mayoral appointee, said he hopes the city comes up with an alternative solution over the next year. He voted in favor on Wednesday, but said he would likely not vote in favor of it in the future.

“If they put an Oracle contract in front of us a year from now, I’m not sure it would pass,” he said.

In the meantime, the board passed a resolution Wednesday requesting more information from the Education Department about the contract due by the end of the calendar year.

An Education Department spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether officials are looking into alternatives to Oracle. An Oracle spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Education tax credit rules are here. Will they lure Democratic governors off the fence?

2026-10-02T19:51:52+00:00

Democratic governors have said for months that they were waiting for the Trump administration to explain exactly how a new education tax credit would work before deciding whether to opt in.

Now those rules are out, and supporters of the tax credit say the green light is on.

“Now you can see them, and it’s time to get going,” said former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who was the first governor to opt in back in 2025, on a call with school choice backers Thursday.

“Every governor on the fence needs to opt in next week,” said Ashling Preston, director of federal affairs for the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group.

For the moment, Democratic governors are still reading and reviewing them. Even New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has said she plans to participate unless she finds a “poison pill” in the program, declined Thursday to make it official.

The stakes are high. The program has the potential to raise billions in new money for schools and could dramatically change the education landscape in unpredictable ways. The money ultimately comes from the federal government in the form of tax rebates, but individual donors and nonprofit scholarship groups will determine how it gets spent.

The Treasury Department rules run 181 pages but leave some questions unanswered. They don’t provide what some Democratic governors say they most want — discretion to shape the program to ensure it helps the neediest students. And it remains unclear to what extent Democratic governors will sign on to a policy associated with President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

Private school students are sure to benefit. Public school students could too, but that might require more creativity.

Jonah Allon, a Hochul spokesperson, said Thursday the governor wants to make sure the program can be implemented so that it benefits all students and doesn’t affect state and local budgets.

So far 30 states have said they’ll participate, according to the IRS. Governors have until midnight on Jan. 1 to opt in for next year, and both supporters and critics are mounting increasingly intense pressure campaigns.

In addition to Hochul, 18 Democratic governors still need to make a decision. Here are four things in the rules that could influence their thinking.

States can’t pick which scholarship groups qualify

Despite comments Education Secretary Linda McMahon made to Congress that suggested otherwise, that’s been pretty clear since June, when the Treasury Department previewed the rules.

Some Democratic governors, including Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, suggested that would be a deal-breaker. Her office told Chalkbeat on Friday that Kotek is reviewing the rules but has no plans to change her position.

Supporters of the program say Democratic governors shouldn’t be able to exclude, for example, a religious scholarship group because it won’t work with gay families, nor should Republican governors be able to exclude scholarship groups focused on equity.

Governors can still use their bully pulpit to promote groups that match their values, they say.

And the Treasury Department rules include some guardrails. Scholarship groups will have to conduct annual audits that include information about how they select students and track money. States are responsible for reviewing those.

Is that enough? Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois previously said he’s worried about discrimination and the lack of accountability measures — concerns many critics share. A Pritzker spokesperson said Thursday the governor’s office is reviewing the rules and will “make a decision grounded in what best supports working families, students, and our public schools.”

It’s still unclear how tax-credit money can be used

Groups thinking about how to leverage the tax credit for public school students — a question that’s also on the mind of Democratic governors — are hoping to use the tax-credit for tutoring and after-school programs, but also for enrichment activities. Those might include field trips, summer camps, or sports and music lessons.

One idea would even help school districts shore up their budgets by peeling off a package of services, charging a fee for it, and then having families pay that fee with a scholarship.

Can they do that? The Treasury Department still hasn’t said — and the answer could limit the extent to which public schools can benefit.

Public schools see ‘money on the table’ in education tax credit designed for private school choice

These issues will be part of a separate rulemaking process, with guidelines due before the end of the year. But that might involve dipping into education policy, something the Treasury Department has said it wants to avoid. It also leaves little planning time.

The tax-credit law itself says scholarships can pay for the same things covered by Coverdell Education Savings Accounts. These include tuition, tutoring, special needs services, books, computers, and other supplies associated with enrollment in an elementary or secondary school.

That’s reason enough to opt in, said Jim Blew, co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute. Tutoring will certainly be covered, and there’s a huge unmet need.

Rules provide options for checking families’ income

Families earning up to 300% of area median income can qualify for scholarships under the law — that’s 92% of all school-aged children, according to an analysis by American Federation for Children. But how do scholarship organizations verify the income of so many families? And how much financial information would families be willing to turn over, especially for smaller scholarships?

The rules offer several ways to verify income beyond checking paystubs. Students can qualify if their family gets food stamps, housing vouchers, or other federal aid that already requires them to verify their income. Students can also automatically qualify if they attend a school in a very poor community or with a lot of other students from low-income families.

That may ease the administrative burden on programs serving low-income families, a group Democratic governors have said must benefit for the program to have value.

But there are other reasons to think wealthy families might still come out ahead.

Treasury officials made fundraising for scholarships easier

The Treasury Department made several decisions that likely will help scholarship groups raise more money.

Married couples filing jointly will be able to get reimbursed up to $3,400, twice the $1,700 that an individual taxpayer can donate. And employers can set up payroll deductions for scholarships. Supporters of the program think that’s critical because it allows people who owe taxes but can’t afford to write a large check to contribute a little out of every paycheck.

Optimistic revenue projects — the Treasury Department estimated the program could be larger than Title I by 2030 — only come true if lots of people participate.

That matters for groups trying to support private school scholarships, of course — they likely will need multiple donors for each scholarship funded.

But it also matters a lot for public school groups. Scholarships for tutoring and after-school programming likely will be smaller, so each donation goes further, but many more children attend public school.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat New York Senior Reporter Alex Zimmerman contributed.

PA election 2026: Where Shapiro, Garrity stand on school funding, vouchers, and other education issues

2026-10-02T18:59:11+00:00

This story was originally published by Spotlight PA. Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for their free newsletters.

Pennsylvania will spend nearly 40% of its $50.8 billion budget on education this year. The size of that obligation, and its impact on children, teenagers, and college students across the commonwealth, make it an enormous part of annual spending talks.

Unsurprisingly, it’s a prominent issue in the 2026 race for governor.

Incumbent Democrat Josh Shapiro has spent his governorship threading a needle on education. He has backed big spending increases, particularly for the commonwealth’s most inadequately funded public school districts. At the same time, he’s supported a taxpayer-funded private school voucher program — something many Democrats oppose.

Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, like many in her party, strongly supports public school alternatives. On higher education, she also focuses on tuition freezes, transparency, and industrial job creation to retain local talent.

Shapiro’s own higher education platform focuses on state coordination, expanded grants, and initiatives aimed at helping more Pennsylvanians earn degrees.

The issue can be complex. Here’s a look at where the major party candidates stand on key debates about K-12 and higher education.

Higher education

The governor exercises wide-ranging authority over public postsecondary policy — from proposing higher education line items in the annual budget to sitting on university governing boards.

The commonwealth has persistently lagged the rest of the nation in higher education support. Pennsylvania ranks 46th nationally in per-student state appropriations to public colleges and universities, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.

At the same time, its undergraduates face some of the heaviest debt burdens in the country, according to national rankings, leaving the next governor to inherit a system under intense pressure from students, parents, and taxpayers alike.

Vision for Pennsylvania colleges and universities

In his 2024-25 budget, Shapiro established the State Board of Higher Education, which brings together education, business, and government leaders from across Pennsylvania to improve coordination and ensure public and state-related universities align with workforce needs.

The board unanimously approved a 10-year strategic plan for higher education, which aims to increase credential attainment, control student costs, and align academic programs with high-priority economic sectors.

“Governor Josh Shapiro believes that if you work hard and want to build your future in Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth should open doors — not put up barriers,” said Sam Reposa, a spokesperson for the Shapiro campaign, in an email to Spotlight PA.

The governor’s team noted that his budgets delivered a 6% funding increase for Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, orPASSHE, schools and community colleges, alongside $120 million in expanded funding for student grants and scholarships.

“Pennsylvania’s students deserve access to quality higher education opportunities that help them get ahead instead of holding them back with a lifetime commitment to paying off debt,” Reposa said.

Garrity focuses her higher education vision on ensuring students have immediate job opportunities after graduating.

In an emailed statement to Spotlight PA, Garrity’s campaign said her administration will work to reverse the migration of residents leaving the state, to ensure that “those who attend a college or university in the commonwealth have a place they can build a career, build a family, and build a home.”

“One of the best ways to achieve that goal is to ensure job opportunities exist for new graduates,” the campaign said. “For instance, under Josh Shapiro, we are not maximizing opportunities in the energy industry — jobs that can range from blue collar to white collar, engineering to business. And if we were to unleash our commonwealth’s natural gas industry, we can produce 200,000 good-paying jobs during the course of my administration.”

Performance-based funding

Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities — Lincoln, Penn State, Pitt, and Temple — operate as public-private hybrids. While they maintain independent governing boards and operational autonomy, they receive hundreds of millions of dollars in annual state subsidies.

Since 2019, state funding for these universities has been flat, steadily losing ground to inflation.

Shapiro has requested increases to these appropriations, but state lawmakers haven’t budged.

In his 2026-27 budget, Shapiro proposed a $30 million performance-based funding pool, which would distribute aid to these universities based on student success metrics like graduation rates, in-state enrollment, and workforce alignment.

State lawmakers ultimately approved $10 million in the final budget.

The Shapiro campaign did not indicate to Spotlight PA whether he would continue to seek increases to baseline appropriations for state-related universities in a second term.

Garrity’s campaign did not respond to a Spotlight PA question regarding performance-based funding.

Transparency at state-related universities

Since state-related universities operate as independent, nonprofit institutions, they are largely exempt from the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

In 2023, Shapiro signed legislation requiring these universities to publish expanded disclosures regarding their finances, employment, and operations.

His strategic plan calls for creating centralized public dashboards that track returns on investment, graduation rates, and institutional spending.

Garrity’s campaign said she supports fully subjecting state-related universities to the Right-to-Know Law, to align their disclosure requirements with PASSHE institutions and community colleges.

“The Garrity-Richey administration is committed to ensuring that transparency is a part of all levels of Government,” the campaign said in an emailed statement to Spotlight PA. “As Governor, Stacy Garrity would support submitting state-related universities to the RTK Law, similar to how the PASSHE schools operate.”

Affordability and debt relief

The two candidates offer competing models for controlling college costs.

Garrity proposes a mandatory five-year tuition lock for every incoming undergraduate.

“As soon as a student pays their first tuition bill, that price is locked in for five years and cannot be raised on a year-to-year basis,” her campaign said in an emailed statement to Spotlight PA. “Students should not be burdened by unpredictable tuition rates; this will help them with their plans after graduation.”

Shapiro favors income-targeted caps, proposing to limit out-of-pocket tuition and fees to $1,000 per semester at PASSHE state universities and community colleges for families earning $70,000 or less.

His campaign pointed to his record as governor and his previous tenure as attorney general.

“As Attorney General, Shapiro cracked down on predatory lenders and delivered millions in student loan debt cancellation to Pennsylvania students,” Reposa said. “As Governor, he invested millions into scholarships and grants to make college more affordable.”

K-12 education

In 2023, Commonwealth Court ruled that Pennsylvania’s system for funding public schools was so inequitable it violated the state constitution. The court ordered lawmakers to fix it, though it did not provide an exact remedy.

That ruling has shaped debates over K-12 education since, often centering on what policies can truly make education equitable. Is it more aggressively funding struggling public schools with poor constituencies, an approach many — but not all — Democrats favor? Or is it offering students resources to leave those districts and attend private school, a method many Republicans prefer?

Or is it some combination?

Adequacy and overall funding

After the Commonwealth Court order, lawmakers assembled a commission to study the state’s education funding system and issue an action report. They settled on trying to fix it using a concept they call an adequacy formula, which directs money to the most inadequately funded schools.

Lawmakers argued over the size of this adequacy gap. The initial report lawmakers put together estimated it was $5.4 billion, but only Democrats signed off on that number; Republicans balked at the size, and also argued non-monetary reforms could help.

But in 2024, the legislature passed a budget with a new funding formula and an initial adequacy payment. The budget’s fiscal note calculated the total gap as being a bit smaller than the report’s estimate, $4.5 billion. As of this year, they’ve put $1.9 billion toward closing the gap.

All told, the state has added more than $3 billion in education funding during Shapiro’s tenure, his office said after the most recent state budget passed.

“Governor Shapiro delivered four balanced, bipartisan budgets that have put money back in hardworking families’ pockets,” his campaign said in a statement, noting that these have included the continuation of a free breakfast program started by Shapiro’s predecessor and the introduction of a program that gives stipends to student teachers.

The campaign said the “work isn’t done, and the fight to continue delivering for our kids is a fundamental question in this election.”

Garrity has criticized the state’s education spending, telling the Center Square that “obviously, throwing money isn’t working.”

Her campaign said in a statement that she wants to reexamine the adequacy formula to “ensure that money is being spent effectively.” It didn’t say what changes she might consider, though it said she would still comply with Commonwealth Court’s order.

The Shapiro campaign’s statement, citing Garrity’s criticism of the state’s education spending, said that her “extreme agenda would set our Commonwealth back.”

Garrity’s campaign also said she would enact “third grade promotion,” which blocks students who aren’t meeting reading goals from moving to fourth grade. It said her vision is that these students would receive monitoring and core reading instruction from a trained teacher.

Also called third grade retention, this practice is mandatory in 10 states and optional in more than two dozen. Studies have shown mixed impacts on student reading.

Funding alternatives to public schools

A perennial conflict in Harrisburg is whether to allocate more state funding to public school alternatives.

This debate, which doesn’t break neatly down partisan lines, primarily concerns two financial instruments: existing education tax credit programs and proposed school vouchers, which the state has not implemented, though lawmakers have come close.

Voucher programs use public money to pay for students’ tuition at private and religious schools. Supporters say this gives important options to kids who live in struggling public districts. Critics argue vouchers weaken public schools by siphoning funds.

Shapiro has been more open to funding public school alternatives than many Democrats — vouchers in particular.

He first voiced support for them during his 2022 bid for governor, and actively pursued a voucher program during his first budget negotiation the following year. At one point during talks, he appeared on Fox News and said, “I believe every child of God deserves a shot here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and one of the best ways we can guarantee their success is making sure every child has a quality education.”

At the time, he said he’d support a voucher program as long as it didn’t take any funding away from public education.

That voucher push ended in a debacle. After the GOP-controlled state Senate passed a spending plan that included a $100 million voucher program, the Democratic-led state House balked. Shapiro, under pressure from his party, line-item vetoed the voucher program. Senators said he’d betrayed them, and talks broke down. Shapiro’s relationship with top Senate leaders has never quite recovered.

Shapiro described the voucher program as “unfinished business” after that budget cycle, and said he still supported it.

In recent talks on state spending, the issue has been much less prominent. Shapiro’s campaign didn’t respond to questions about whether his stance has changed, though he has never indicated publicly that it has.

Garrity is definitively in favor of vouchers and has accused Shapiro of flip-flopping.

“Josh Shapiro has been all over the map,” she said in an appearance before the Pennsylvania Press Club last winter. “Josh Shapiro has held not one, not two, but three positions on school choice. I hold one position: parents, not bureaucrats, make the best decisions for their child’s future.”

Garrity’s campaign told Spotlight PA in a statement that she is “committed to putting Pennsylvania students first,” which it said would include making it a priority to “enact a scholarship program, like Lifeline Scholarships.” That proposal, introduced by legislative Republicans but never enacted, would have required districts with schools categorized as “low-achieving” to annually notify families that their kids qualify for first-come, first-served state-funded scholarships.

Pennsylvania also has two long-running tax credit programs that work like vouchers — they provide tax breaks to businesses and individuals that donate to scholarships that help students to attend private schools.

The EITC, or Educational Improvement Tax Credit, is currently available to any student whose household makes a maximum of $122,322, plus $21,531 for each dependent. The OSTC, or Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit, is much smaller, limited to students in the commonwealth’s poorest-performing schools.

The programs have ballooned over the past few decades. The EITC was created in 2001 as a program capped at $30 million; the current cap for EITC and OSTC combined is $680 million.

Debates about these programs center on their size and transparency.

Currently, scholarship organizations must report to the state the size of awards, which school districts students previously attended, and which private schools they switch to. They don’t have to track awardees’ household income or how much tuition they still pay after the scholarship. Critics say those pieces of information would allow better assessments of the programs’ effectiveness.

During Shapiro’s tenure as governor, funding for EITC and OSTC has increased by more than $200 million. When he entered office in 2022, the combined cap for EITC and OSTC was $465 million. However, the 2026-27 budget that Shapiro signed in July did not include spending increases for either program — a shift from prior years.

Shapiro’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment about his vision for future spending on or reforms to those programs.

Garrity’s campaign told Spotlight PA she wants to strengthen and preserve EITC and OSTC, and that she would raise the dollar cap on EITC by another $60 million, “allowing for more scholarship opportunities.”

The federal government has also launched an educational tax credit program that works like Pennsylvania’s. States must decide whether to opt in.

Shapiro’s administration has said he hasn’t yet decided whether Pennsylvania will join, and that he’s awaiting more details. He has until the end of the year.

Garrity supports joining the program, and her campaign said she would do so “on day one.” She has accused Shapiro of dragging his feet.

Charter and cyber charter oversight

Pennsylvania charter schools are funded through a system in which public districts pay tuition for any students who live within their borders and opt to attend a charter. Rates are calculated based on the district’s per-student spending, with some deductions.

It’s an old system, and public school advocates have argued for years that they’re paying too much — particularly for cyber charter schools, which have recently ballooned in popularity and have much lower overhead costs. Some cyber charters have accumulated large surpluses.

Last year lawmakers made a few updates aimed specifically at cyber charters, including letting public schools deduct more expenses from their cyber tuition, tightening language around student wellness checks, and requiring families to prove district residency more often.

GOP leaders say those adjustments should close the issue; Democrats have argued there’s more to do, including further cutting public schools’ payments to charters and capping cyber charters’ surpluses.

Shapiro has repeatedly proposed funding cyber charters using a per-student base rate of $8,000, rather than the current, widely variable district-based spending. In his most recent budget pitch, he shifted gears, instead pitching a system in which public schools could deduct more expenses before calculating their cyber charter payments, and cyber charters’ funding formula would be tweaked to functionally cap their tuition rates.

Neither of these reform styles has made progress in the GOP-controlled state Senate.

Shapiro’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment on additional charter school reforms he supports, either on funding or transparency. However, he has frequently promoted last year’s cyber charter changes, which were estimated to save public school districts about $178 million cumulatively.

Garrity’s campaign called both brick-and-mortar and cyber charters “a great option for students” that lets them “learn in an environment that best suits them.”

It said that instead of passing flat tuition rates or any other new reforms, Garrity would wait to see the impact of the state’s recent changes.

“As Governor, Stacy Garrity would look at the surplus accumulation and look at the balance sheets of all school districts as well as charter schools and cyber charter schools to ensure the fiscal stability of the districts,” the campaign wrote.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 2a

2026-10-02T18:41:49+00:00

Leer en inglés. Leer en chino.

Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

Un abogado se enfrenta a una actual miembro de la Junta con experiencia en organización comunitaria en una contienda de dos candidatos para representar una de las zonas con mayor diversidad cultural de Chicago, ubicada en las orillas del lago en el extremo norte de la ciudad.

Elegida en 2024, Ebony DeBerry está a favor de aumentar los impuestos a las corporaciones y a las personas de mayores ingresos para enfrentar los problemas presupuestarios de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Héctor Morales, un abogado y exalumno de CPS, dijo que el distrito debe gastar de manera más eficiente.

El Distrito 2a alberga a un gran número de familias inmigrantes. Solo en el vecindario de Rogers Park se hablan más de 80 idiomas, según la Rogers Park Business Alliance.

Los tres candidatos tienen opiniones diferentes sobre cómo financiar e invertir en programas de educación bilingüe y de doble inmersión, mientras se aborda el déficit presupuestario de CPS.

“Tenemos que encontrar maneras de hacer que las corporaciones, los millonarios y los multimillonarios paguen la parte que les corresponde”, dijo DeBerry durante una entrevista. Morales, por su parte, comentó que los miembros de la Junta “tienen que asegurarse de que estamos aprovechando bien lo que ya tenemos antes de empezar a pedirle más dinero a la gente”.

DeBerry, exmaestra de CPS, obtuvo el 43% de los votos en 2024 y superó por un estrecho margen a otros tres candidatos, entre ellos Leon.

DeBerry cuenta con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU), mientras que Morales cuenta con el respaldo de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

El invierno pasado, el grupo publicó anuncios en contra de la propuesta del alcalde Brandon Johnson de imponer un impuesto por empleado a las empresas. El CTU, por su parte, apoyó firmemente ese impuesto.

Morales también cuenta con el respaldo de The Urban Center, organización política centrista que promueve la elección de escuelas tanto públicas como privadas.

DeBerry ha vivido toda su vida en Rogers Park y fue estudiante, maestra y madre de un estudiante de CPS. Se graduó de Sullivan High School y enseñó en preescolar, kínder y primer grado en CPS a principios de la década de 2000. También enseñó en los suburbios de Evanston y Arlington Heights. Su hijo se graduó en 2021 de Northside College Prep, escuela secundaria de admisión selectiva de CPS.

DeBerry dijo que su experiencia como maestra y su trabajo con ONE Northside, organización sin fines de lucro que ayuda a los vecinos a involucrarse en diversos asuntos comunitarios, le han demostrado la importancia de involucrar a los estudiantes y a sus familias.

“Nuestras experiencias de vida nos convierten en expertos en lo que necesitamos”, dijo DeBerry. “Creo que por eso valoro tanto las escuelas comunitarias: una iniciativa que lleva programas y recursos a las escuelas de acuerdo con las necesidades de cada comunidad escolar. No todas son iguales porque cada escuela necesita algo diferente”.

Si resulta elegida para un segundo término, DeBerry comentó que le gustaría crear un consejo asesor juvenil para que la Junta pueda escuchar directamente a los estudiantes.

“Necesitamos escuchar una amplia variedad de opiniones, experiencias personales y conocimientos de la comunidad”, agregó DeBerry.

También destacó que el estado necesita reforzar sus políticas sobre las escuelas chárter para evitar que los estudiantes queden rezagados cuando una escuela cierra repentinamente, como ocurrió con las escuelas chárter de Acero la primavera pasada.

“Tuvimos estudiantes de último año que no sabían si podrían graduarse juntos, que no sabían si podrían tener su baile de graduación”, agregó DeBerry. “Fue desgarrador”.

DeBerry quiere que CPS comience a elaborar presupuestos para varios años que tomen en cuenta los aumentos salariales y los costos de mantenimiento de los edificios, para que haya menos recortes de último momento al comienzo del año escolar. También dijo que el sistema de impuestos de la Ciudad debe cambiar y que las personas de mayores ingresos deben contribuir más a CPS.

“Estamos asfixiando económicamente a los propietarios de viviendas, y no todos son ricos”, dijo DeBerry. “Tenemos un sistema de impuestos muy injusto: la clase trabajadora y la clase media cargan con todo en esta ciudad”.

Hasta mediados de septiembre, el principal grupo donante de la campaña de DeBerry era ONE People’s Campaign.

Lee el cuestionario completo de DeBerry.

Morales trabaja como abogado y su práctica privada se especializa en licencias comerciales, bienes raíces y zonificación. Pero Morales también es un apasionado de la música electrónica y recientemente obtuvo un título en artes e industrias del sonido en Northwestern University.

Morales, quien asistió a las secundarias Senn y Roberto Clemente antes de graduarse de Truman Middle College Alternative High School, dijo que la música no le pareció accesible hasta que estaba en sus treintas, cuando tomó una clase de circuit bending, técnica para modificar circuitos electrónicos y crear nuevos sonidos.

Morales tomó el teclado descompuesto de su sobrina, lo conectó a su computadora portátil y comenzó a crear su propia música electrónica.

“Me demostró que cualquier cosa puede convertirse en música”, dijo.

Morales dijo que decidió postularse a la Junta de Educación después de ser voluntario en Gale Elementary School en Rogers Park, donde enseñó a los niños a crear música electrónica.

“Noté que los niños que al principio eran tímidos se animaban, empezaban a hacer música y se les iluminaba la cara”, recordó Morales.

Si resulta elegido, Morales destacó que le gustaría incorporar la música y las artes al currículo básico de las escuelas. Dijo que fomentar la creatividad de los estudiantes los ayuda a convertirse en alumnos con una formación más integral.

Morales, egresado de Loyola University, creció en el complejo de vivienda pública Lathrop Homes y fue la primera persona de su familia en graduarse de la universidad. Dijo que empezó a considerar la universidad como una posibilidad, en gran parte, porque un estudiante de Loyola fue su tutor cuando estaba en la secundaria. Agregó que le gustaría que CPS estableciera más alianzas con universidades locales para mostrarles a los estudiantes de secundaria que ir a la universidad es una opción.

Morales también dijo que dirigir su propio despacho de abogados desde principios de la década de 2000 le ha dado experiencia en el manejo de presupuestos. Si resulta elegido, dijo que quiere asegurarse de que CPS esté “utilizando cada dólar de la manera más eficiente posible”.

Hasta mediados de septiembre, Morales no había recibido donaciones para su campaña, según los registros de la Junta Electoral del Estado de Illinois.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Morales.

Molly DeVore cubre los vecindarios del extremo noroeste de Chicago, entre ellos Portage Park, Jefferson Park, Norwood Park, Forest Glen y Sauganash, para Block Club Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Molly en molly@blockclubchi.org.

Voter guide 2026: Are Detroit students better off under DPSCD? School board candidates weigh in.

2026-10-02T18:02:32+00:00

Ten years ago, the Detroit Public Schools Community District was in its infancy and charting a path for students that promised to be different than the traumatic and chaotic one that had become the norm for decades.

It would be debt free, after years in which Detroit Public Schools, the district that used to educate students, was mired in so much debt that bankruptcy seemed a certainty. The focus would be on academics instead of paying off debt. And it would be overseen by a new elected and empowered school board, after years in which the DPS board had little to no say.

After a decade of DPSCD, there are some encouraging signs. While overall achievement is still low and well below statewide averages, the district has seen steady improvement, and researchers have said that growth is a sign academic reforms are having an effect. The district’s board has adopted balanced budgets in each year of its existence. The district has had consistent leadership since Superintendent Nikolai Vitti was hired in 2017, unlike the revolving door of the previous district.

But there have also been challenges. Some board members and community members increasingly are criticizing academic performance, saying students aren’t improving fast enough. Vitti has frequently raised concerns that the district isn’t receiving funding from the state that is equitable to suburban districts. And while the district has invested $700 million (from federal COVID relief funds provided during the pandemic) into a facility master plan for upgrades and rebuilds across DPSCD, it covers just a fraction of the facility needs.

In the race for five open seats in the Nov. 3 election — four seats with four-year terms and one seat with a partial two-year term — 34 names will appear on the ballot. Three of them — Natalie Bien-Aime, Henrietta Ivey, and Darious Morris — have indicated they are no longer running.

The candidates weighed in on the 10-year anniversary, answering questions in a Chalkbeat questionnaire about what the district has done well, what it’s gotten wrong, and whether schools are better off.

Here’s what they told us.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago School Board Election 2026: The race in District 2a, Far North Side

2026-10-02T17:32:18+00:00

Read in Spanish. Read in Chinese.

This story was reported and published in collaboration with WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit newsroom covering Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. Stay informed with Chalkbeat Chicago’s newsletter, WBEZ and the Sun-Times’ education newsletter, and Block Club Chicago’s newsletters.

An attorney is challenging an incumbent with a background in community organizing in a two-way race to represent one of Chicago’s most culturally diverse areas along the Far North Side lakefront.

Elected in 2024, Ebony DeBerry favors taxing corporations and the wealthy to confront Chicago Public Schools’ budget woes. Her opponents both see belt-tightening as a path forward. Hector Morales, an attorney who attended CPS, said the district must spend more efficiently.

District 2a is home to a large number of immigrant families. More than 80 languages are spoken throughout the Rogers Park neighborhood alone, according to the Rogers Park Business Alliance.

The three candidates’ views differ on how to fund and invest in bilingual and dual-language education programs while also addressing CPS’ budget deficit.

“We have to find ways to make corporations, millionaires, and billionaires pay their fair share,” DeBerry said during an interview, while Morales said board members “need to make sure we’re using what we got now, before we start asking folks for more money.”

DeBerry, a former CPS teacher, won 43% of the vote in 2024, edging out three other candidates, including Leon.

DeBerry has been endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, while Morales has been endorsed by the Common Ground Collective, an anti-CTU political action committee that is heavily funded by billionaire Michael Sacks and says it aims to engage voters around “effective progressive policies.”

Last winter the group ran ads attacking Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed corporate head tax. The CTU, on the other hand, strongly supported the corporate head tax.

Morales is also endorsed by The Urban Center, a centrist political organization that advocates for school choice across public and private schools.

DeBerry is a lifelong Rogers Park resident and a former CPS student, teacher, and parent. She graduated from Sullivan High School and taught pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade for CPS in the early 2000s. She also taught in suburban Evanston and Arlington Heights. Her son graduated from Northside College Prep, a CPS selective enrollment high school, in 2021.

DeBerry said her work as a teacher and with ONE Northside, a nonprofit that helps get neighbors involved in various community issues, has shown her the importance of engaging with students and their families.

“Our life experience makes us experts on what we need,” DeBerry said. “I think that that’s why I value community schools so much — an initiative that brings programming and resources to schools based on the needs of that school community. They don’t all look the same because every school needs something different.”

If elected to a second term, DeBerry said she would like to establish a youth advisory council so the board can hear directly from students.

“We need to hear from a wide swath of opinions, of personal expertise, of community expertise,” she said.

The state needs to tighten its policies around charter schools, DeBerry said, so students aren’t left stranded when schools abruptly close, as happened with the Acero charter schools in spring 2025.

“We had seniors who didn’t know if they would be able to graduate together, who didn’t know if they would be able to have a prom,” DeBerry said. “It was heartbreaking.”

DeBerry would like CPS to start creating multiyear budgets that account for rising wages and building maintenance costs so there are fewer last-minute cuts at the beginning of the year. She also said the city’s taxing system needs to change, and that the wealthy need to contribute more to CPS.

“We are crippling our homeowners, who are not all wealthy,” DeBerry said. “We have a very unfair taxing system — the working class, the middle class, take care of everything in this city.”

DeBerry’s top group donor as of mid-September was ONE People’s Campaign.

Read DeBerry’s full questionnaire.

By day, Morales is an attorney whose private practice specializes in business licensing, real estate, and zoning. But Morales also has a passion for electronic music, and recently got a degree in sound arts and industries from Northwestern University.

Morales, who attended Senn and Roberto Clemente high schools before graduating from Truman Middle College Alternative High School, said music didn’t feel accessible to him until his 30s, when he took a class in circuit bending.

Morales took his niece’s broken keyboard, hooked it up to his laptop, and started making his own electronic music.

“It showed me that anything can be musical,” he said.

Morales said he was inspired to run for school board after volunteering at Gale Elementary School in Rogers Park, where he taught kids how to make electronic music.

“I noticed kids that were shy at first would get up there and start making music and their faces would light up,” Morales recalled.

If elected, Morales said he would like to make music and the arts part of schools’ core curriculum. Nurturing students’ creativity makes them better, more well-rounded students, he said.

A Loyola University alum, Morales grew up in the Lathrop Homes public housing project and was the first person in his family to graduate from college. College felt like a possibility for him largely because a Loyola student tutored him while he was in high school, he said. Morales said he would like to see CPS partner more with local universities to show high school students that college is an option.

Morales said running his own law firm since the early 2000s has given him experience balancing a budget. If elected, he said he wants to make sure CPS is “using every dollar as efficiently as possible.”

Morales did not have any campaign donors as of mid-September, according to State Board of Elections records .

Read Morales’ full questionnaire.

Editor’s note: This story was updated after learning a third candidate, Bruce Leon, was no longer running. His name is not on the ballot.

Molly DeVore covers Chicago’s Far Northwest Side neighborhoods, including Portage Park, Jefferson Park, Norwood Park, Forest Glen, and Sauganash, for Block Club Chicago. Contact Molly at molly@blockclubchi.org.

Voter guide: Prop 134 asks Colorado voters to bar transgender student athletes from certain school sports

2026-10-02T15:09:00+00:00

Should transgender students be barred from joining K-12 school or college sports teams that align with their gender identity?

That’s the question Colorado voters will answer when they vote on Proposition 134 on Nov. 3. If passed, it would take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Currently, Colorado schools have varying policies on whether transgender students can play on sports teams that match their gender identity. Some allow it or make decisions on a case by case basis. Others, including a group of conservative-leaning districts and charter schools that unsuccessfully sued the state over the issue, don’t allow it.

If passed, Proposition 134 would create a statewide ban on the practice. Similar measures are on the ballot in Washington state, Arizona, and Nebraska, where the ban would be enshrined in the state constitution.

These measures mirror a controversial 2025 executive order issued by President Donald Trump. Several states and school districts have pushed back against the Trump administration’s position in court. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allows, but doesn’t require, states to ban transgender students from school sports teams that match their gender identity.

Here’s a closer look at Proposition 134.

What would schools and districts be required to do if Prop 134 passes?

Schools and colleges would have to create new policies implementing the ballot measure’s requirements. They would have to designate every athletic team as male, female, or coeducational. Biological male students could not join female teams. Biological female students could not join male teams, except if there is no female team in a given sport. Any student could join co-ed teams.

How will a student’s gender be determined?

The ballot measure doesn’t specify, so it would be up to schools to decide.

Opponents of the measure say it could subject students to invasive gender checks, particularly girls who are tall, strong, or athletically gifted.

The ballot measure says biological males have reproductive systems organized around the production of sperm cells, and biological females have reproductive systems organized around the production of egg cells.

Erin Lee, co-founder of Protect Kids Colorado, which is advocating for the measure, said students could get doctor notes stating their gender. Cheek swabs are another option, she said. The swabs are a form of DNA testing and show the presence of male or female gender markers. They can cost hundreds of dollars.

How many transgender students play school sports in Colorado?

No organization or state agency tracks this number. It’s generally thought to be an exceedingly small percentage of student athletes.

Which schools and sports teams would Prop 134 impact?

If passed, the measure would apply to sports teams offered through Colorado’s public or private schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. It would also apply to sports teams at Colorado’s public or private colleges. It would not apply to youth sports teams offered through private clubs or leagues.

Who would enforce the measure?

The Colorado Department of Education would be responsible for enforcing Proposition 134 in public K-12 schools. The ballot measure includes no enforcement mechanism for colleges or universities or private K-12 schools.

Who opposes Prop 134?

Opponents include Families Not Politics, a coalition of dozens of LGBTQ, legal, and other groups. The coalition includes One Colorado, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Cobalt Advocates, Inside Out Youth Services, the Transgender Law Center, and Rocky Mountain Equality.

Nadine Bridges, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group One Colorado, said the measure amounts to government overreach that would impede privacy and parent decision-making.

She also said Proposition 134 would hurt a small and vulnerable population of transgender students who just want to play sports with their friends.

Bridges said supporters of the measure are using transgender youth as a political talking point to rile up their conservative base: “That has nothing to do with protecting kids.”

Bridges said the ballot measure could also have unintended consequences.

The measure “is written so vaguely that there aren’t any boundaries, no parameters, no appeal process at all,” she said. “So any young person, transgender or not, will be impacted by this.”

Who supports it?

Supporters include Protect Kids Colorado, which is also pushing two other ballot measures: Proposition 133, which increases penalties for sex trafficking, and Proposition 135, which bars gender-affirming surgery for minors.

Lee said her group is not part of any national effort seeking to promote ballot measures on transgender student athletes. Rather, it’s a grassroots collection of a few thousand individuals who’ve taken an interest in the issue.

She said Proposition 134 will protect girls’ safety, opportunity, and dignity.

When transgender girls are allowed in girls sports, girls “lose their scholarships, their trophies, their podium spots, their records, their championships, their spot on the team,” said Lee. “There’s a real ripple effect that happens not just to the girls on that team, but on the opposing teams as well.”

Asked whether Proposition 134 could subject female athletes to uncomfortable scrutiny if they are perceived as too masculine, she said, “The great thing about this ballot measure is that it eliminates any skepticism. Everyone is subjected to the requirement to prove biological sex, and then no one has to guess or question or single anyone out.”

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Denver school board gives investigators just one week to look into antisemitism allegation

2026-10-02T03:00:50+00:00

An external investigator will have just a week to look into an allegation that Denver school board Vice President Monica Hunter used antisemitic language, with a report due next Thursday. The board is set to decide that same day whether to censure Hunter.

That’s the result of a series of votes Thursday by the board, which first undid a previous vote that several members said they misunderstood. That vote, from two weeks ago, did two things: ordered an investigation into the antisemitism allegation and dismissed a slew of other allegations against Hunter. Three board members said they hadn’t meant to do the second part.

“I think it’s important that we start over,” board President Xóchitl Gaytán said Thursday.

In restarting, the board put a new time limit on the investigation, ordering that it be completed by the board’s next meeting on Oct. 8. A proposal to limit the scope to interviews with just four people was expanded at Hunter’s request to include interviews with “any witnesses necessary,” though Gaytán pushed board members to keep the investigation narrow.

“You’re not necessarily a bystander in this,” Hunter said to Gaytán. “You are the accuser, and so it benefits you to encourage folks to vote no. In any other kind of due process, no one would limit witnesses. When they don’t have anything to hide, they welcome that.”

Gaytán said she was concerned that widening the investigation would cost more money and take more time. In the end, she voted to allow investigators to interview other witnesses.

Gaytán accused Hunter last month of a long list of policy violations. The most serious is that Gaytán and Superintendent Alex Marrero claim Hunter allegedly called Jewish board member Amy Klein Molk a “Zionist bitch” in separate conversations with them in December and January.

Hunter has denied it.

“I absolutely don’t talk like that and would never say that about her,” Hunter told Chalkbeat.

Gaytán also accused Hunter of allegedly disparaging other board members in a social media post, allegedly contacting employees in the school choice office to advocate for another family and her own, and allegedly failing to review the superintendent’s weekly email to the board.

Gaytán also alleged that Hunter’s job with the Colorado Education Association, the statewide teachers union, is a potential conflict of interest. Hunter is a former Denver Public Schools teacher and current DPS parent who works as the union’s director of human and civil rights.

Hunter has said the accusations are false.

Gaytán also levied several accusations against DJ Torres, who resigned from the board about three hours before Thursday’s meeting. Torres was elected in November 2025 with backing from the Denver teachers union and served as treasurer of the board.

In a written statement, Torres said “too much of my time and energy have been consumed by internal conflict.” In his 10 months on the board, Torres repeatedly clashed with Gaytán, who accused him of missing meetings and refusing to communicate with her by phone, among other allegations. Torres denied violating any board policies.

The board voted to accept Torres’ resignation Thursday and declared a vacancy for the District 3 seat representing central-east Denver. Under state law, the board has 60 days to appoint someone to fill the seat. The board will also have to appoint a new treasurer.

The board approved the week-long investigation into the antisemitism allegations after meeting in a closed-door executive session with its new attorneys from law firm Holland & Knight, which can charge the board as much as $1,000 an hour for its services.

An initial motion, made by Gaytán, would have authorized investigators to speak to just four people: Gaytán, Hunter, Klein Molk, and Marrero, with a report due by Oct. 7.

Klein Molk said she favored a short timeline.

“It has been my desire to do this in a way that brings people together and that stops dividing us,” she said. “I ask that we move quickly and swiftly, and that we do this with as much dignity and respect as humanly possible.”

Board member Kimberlee Sia suggested changing the date to Oct. 8 because she said Oct. 7 “feels a little tone deaf” to be receiving a report related to alleged antisemitic remarks. It was on that date in 2023 that Hamas attacked Israel.

Hunter advocated for an amendment to allow investigators to talk to additional relevant witnesses as well.

“Otherwise, it’s literally going to boil down to hearsay,” she said.

At first, some board members seemed skeptical.

“I don’t see the reason to bring others into it because, as far as I know from the statements, there were no witnesses who were present in those conversations,” board member Marlene De La Rosa said, referring to written statements by Gaytán and Marrero.

But Hunter said De La Rosa was making an assumption that the conversations between herself and Gaytán, and between herself and Marrero, even happened at all.

“I deserve due process,” Hunter said, “and anyone who thinks I don’t needs to kind of be examined for their bias.”

Board member John Youngquist, who was the subject of a board-ordered investigation into bias allegations last year, pointed out that the board didn’t limit the scope of his investigation. Youngquist said one difference is that he is a white man and Hunter is a Black woman.

Eventually, the board voted unanimously to allow investigators to talk to witnesses. The vote to allow investigators to deliver their report a day later was also unanimous.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Newark schools says a state audit found ‘nothing.’ The auditors flagged the Criminal Justice division.

2026-10-01T22:19:37+00:00

Newark Public Schools officials say a new state audit proves its finances are in order. Those who wrote the audit see things differently.

The report released Thursday by the New Jersey Office of the State Auditor David J. Kashack identified millions of dollars in excess state aid, questionable spending, and gaps in employee background checks. The audit also referred “certain matters” to New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice, although it does not provide further details, which auditors said they withheld to protect potential investigations.

Nevertheless, the district said in a Thursday press release auditors spent 22 months reviewing its records and “found … nothing.”

At the same time, in its formal response, Newark called the report’s reference to the Criminal Justice division referral “gratuitous and irresponsible,” citing a lack of supporting evidence.

The audit’s findings could turn up political heat on the district. They follow Republican lawmakers’ demands for greater state and federal oversight of the Newark district’s finances in recent years and questions about how New Jersey’s largest school district handles its public money. Newark officials have publicly defended their financial management as they face rising costs and the need for more classroom space.

The district and auditors disagreed on many of the audit’s core findings and the district’s own documentation. For example, the district insisted in its response to the report that student enrollment data is regularly updated and conforms to state requirements. After examining district records, the auditors asserted that the data was “inaccurate” and not regularly updated.

“Newark Public Schools takes seriously every recommendation that can advance our progress and incorporates that feedback into meaningful, continuous improvement,” Superintendent Roger León said in Thursday’s press release.

The audit looked at Newark Public Schools spending from July 2022 through May 2026. State funding accounted for an average of 88% of the district’s general fund revenues during the three fiscal years analyzed.

Auditors found Newark got approximately $6.7 million in excess state aid after overstating student enrollment by 128 students in its 2023 and 2024 submissions. The district maintained that its reporting followed state guidelines.

The audit also estimated that the district could have saved $18.7 million over two years by participating in the state’s school employee health benefits program. Newark, which has used a self-insured plan since 2022, disputed the comparison and said its benefits were more comprehensive than the state plan’s.

Other findings were focused on spending outside the classroom. Auditors questioned roughly $566,000 spent to build, equip, and operate an employee gym at district headquarters, saying construction lacked required board approval and circumvented competitive bidding requirements.

Newark countered that the gym services were paid for with employee wellness funds. Auditors said district records showed the money came from its general fund.

The district also paid $2.5 million upfront to a developer in May 2023 to convert the former State Street School into a museum and offices. By May 2026, the project was a year overdue, with no records provided to auditors documenting progress or explaining the delay. In its response, Newark said the project preserves “one of New Jersey’s most significant civil rights and public education landmarks.”

Auditors identified other issues with legal spending, payments to preschool providers, catering expenses, senior trips, and a central office staff event.

Their recommendations included establishing procedures to minimize legal costs, adjusting preschool payments to reflect enrollment, and improving how the district approves and pays for purchases.

Beyond spending, the audit found 10 employees had never completed required criminal background checks and 199 lacked properly updated clearances for Newark.

According to the report, the district directed those employees to complete background checks or resubmit fingerprints after auditors flagged the gaps. Most subsequently received clearances, while some left the district or were barred from working until they completed the process.

State auditors said they plan to review Newark’s compliance with their recommendations in 2028.

Chicago teachers, school leaders navigate uncertainty after school board reverses summer layoffs

2026-10-01T21:31:52+00:00

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After being laid off from his teaching job this summer and not hearing back from schools with competitive open jobs, Andrew Feigenbaum did not expect to be rehired by Chicago Public Schools.

Then a divided Chicago Board of Education narrowly passed a budget in late July that required the district to reverse hundreds of school-based layoffs like Feigenbaum’s, relying on additional state funding that has not yet come.

Feigenbaum is one of the 350 people CPS has rehired so far under the complex budget mandate, or about one-third of the school-based staffers eligible to have their layoffs reversed. But it’s unclear how long those jobs will last if CPS doesn’t receive an additional $100 million this fiscal year.

His new assignment is co-teaching a fifth-grade class at Fernwood Elementary on the Far South Side, which he described as an academically focused and pleasant school where he’s already memorized his new students’ hobbies, favorite books, and strongest subjects.

But besides a photo of his kids and some artwork and cards from his former students, Feigenbaum has hesitated hanging up more of his personal items in his classroom because he doesn’t know how long he’ll be there.

“Some kids are like, ‘We really hope you can stay for a while,’” Feigenbaum said. “For me, it’s like, you don’t want to open up too much because the more you open up, the more you get hurt if you do have to leave quickly, so I’m kind of trying to find that middle ground.”

Many staffers have returned to their old schools in similar positions, while others have been placed in new schools or in different roles, according to the district and records obtained by Chalkbeat through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“No one knows what the ultimate resolution will look like,” said Nelson Gerew, chief of internal and public affairs at the Chicago Public Education Fund. “If that money isn’t available, will these positions go away in December, in January? I think there’s a big question hanging over this as well.”

At the same time, some principals told Chalkbeat they didn’t really need the rehired staffers, and they would have preferred to fill specific roles their schools needed but CPS had not funded.

Neither the Chicago Teachers Union nor the principals union responded to requests for comment for this story.

Where CPS has placed rehired staffers

CPS placed rehired staffers at more than 200 schools across a range of positions, such as teachers, assistant principals, security guards, and school clerks, according to the staffing records.

About 45% of these rehired staffers were placed at their old schools in similar positions, and another 37% were placed at new schools with similar job titles. The remaining almost 18%, about 62 people, were placed in roles they did not have last school year, according to the records and a CPS spokesperson.

In late July — less than a month before the first day of school — 11 board members aligned with the mayor’s office and the Chicago Teachers Union supported amending the district’s proposed budget to assume an additional $150 million in state money, with $100 million earmarked for reversing layoffs.

Supporters view the maneuver as a way to pressure Springfield to provide more money, pointing to how CPS is funded at 70% of what the state considers adequate. They’ve also described how painful it is for schools to lose trusted staff and cited statements from key state lawmakers who said they will push for more school funding during the state legislature’s veto session in November.

CPS CEO Macquline King and her team, along with seven board members, opposed the move, warning that it risked midyear budget cuts and disruption for schools if the money doesn’t come. It remains unclear whether additional funding is coming. It’s also possible that the city of Chicago will send more special taxing district dollars to CPS, known as TIF surplus, than expected, as it did last year.

Asked why the district has rehired just one-third of the staffers who are eligible to come back, CPS said it is “actively addressing” the budget’s staffing mandate and will keep hiring “when funding and student needs warrant.” A spokesperson also emphasized that the district is not obligated to rehire everyone it deems eligible to come back.

“The number of returning employees will depend on available vacancies, school-level needs, employee eligibility, and the District’s capacity to adequately fund those positions,” said Sylvia Barragan, a spokesperson for CPS, in a statement.

How rehiring is playing out in schools

By the time the board directed CPS to reverse layoffs, school budgets and schedules were largely set. CPS decided to rehire staffers centrally so that principals didn’t have to reopen their budgets. To determine who to rehire and where to send them, the district’s Talent Office surveyed principals and teachers roughly two weeks after the budget vote and 12 days before the start of school.

Feigenbaum, the new Fernwood teacher, filled out the survey and had hoped to get rehired at DePriest, his old school on the West Side, where he taught third-grade math and science. Still, despite his minimum 40-minute drive from his Northwest Side home to Fernwood and uncertainty about the future, he’s “extremely thankful” to have a job.

As a co-teacher in a new school, he’s been figuring out how to be “worthwhile and helpful” in his classroom while not overstepping what the existing teacher does well or has planned.

The students are “just happy that they have more people who can give them attention and give them the stuff that they need,” which can be difficult in a class of 30 with just one teacher, he said.

Some school leaders told Chalkbeat that their class sizes are already manageable as enrollment has dropped again across CPS, and the district sent them people their schools didn’t really need.

One principal, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly, said their South Side high school needs a Spanish teacher. When the principal got the district’s staffing survey, they asked if they could have a Spanish teaching position opened in their budget. District leaders said no — they were focusing on bringing back displaced staffers who have not yet found other jobs, the principal recalled. The survey sent to principals asked them to rank positions they wanted that were previously cut from their school.

Ultimately, the principal requested an art teacher they had laid off this past summer, and CPS reassigned her to the school. But an hour after the teacher arrived for her first day, she informed the principal that her parents had retired and left her the family business, so she would be taking a leave of absence, the principal recalled.

The principal had not yet changed class schedules to account for this teacher, so the school was able to “keep going as we had planned,” the principal said.

On the Northwest Side, one high school’s biggest need was a second interventionist, who provides more intensive academic support to students. But CPS did not allocate that position to the school over the summer, and the rehired staffer the district sent is not an interventionist, according to the school’s principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the press about this issue.

Instead, the school made class scheduling changes so that another staffer could take on the interventionist role. The rehired staffer — someone who is new to this school — acts as a substitute and fills in where necessary or provides some extra support in classrooms, but they’ve been absent more often than other teachers at the school, the principal said.

“If our enrollment is down — which most schools, it is — my class sizes are OK,” the principal said. “I’ve got enough teachers for all my classes.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC math teacher who helped develop Illustrative Mathematics makes the case for its open-ended approach

2026-10-01T20:07:40+00:00

New York City has made a big bet that math instruction should prioritize open-ended problem solving and student discussion rather than more rote methods. But some educators worry the new curriculum is challenging to implement and could be counterproductive for students who haven’t mastered the basics.

Gabe Rosenberg, veteran math teacher at Bard High School Early College in Manhattan, knows the debate well. He helped develop portions of the Illustrative Mathematics high school curriculum. New York City mandates the problem-based curriculum for high school Algebra 1 and requires the elementary school version in some schools. Philadelphia and Denver are increasingly adopting it, too.

Asked about his approach to designing curriculum, Rosenberg said a guiding principle was focusing on knowledge and skills students will retain five or 10 years from now.

“Memorizing a few things they will forget by next Fall is unimportant,” he said in an email. “Every student should see themselves as capable doers of mathematics.”

Rosenberg’s career initially focused on studying pure mathematics as a university researcher, earning a doctorate from Columbia University before teaching at Yale. He ultimately gravitated toward math education, which he felt could reach far more people than specialized research. In 2004 he joined Bard High School Early College, a selective program that offers students a chance to graduate high school with an associate’s degree.

More recently, Rosenberg won Math for America’s Muller Award for Professional Influence in Education, which comes with $20,000 in prize money. (An additional $5,000 will go to Illustrative Mathematics, which nominated him.)

Chalkbeat caught up with Rosenberg to learn more about how he approached crafting an influential math curriculum as part of a larger team, what he makes of the critiques of the curriculum’s more open-ended approach, and how he works with students who struggle with math.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You teach at Bard High School Early College Manhattan, which has a selective admissions process. How did you approach writing a curriculum for a broader range of students?

I have had the great fortune of working with mathematics teachers from across New York City in Math for America and across the U.S. and Canada through the Park City Mathematics Institute. Those experiences have led me to believe that all students are capable of learning mathematics. They just need to be given the opportunity to explore it themselves.

What’s your favorite Illustrative Mathematics lesson to teach? Walk me through what students do and why you like it.

My favorite lesson is a geometry lesson in the unit on congruence called “Points, Segments, and Zigzags.” Students are first asked to prove or disprove the claim that all points are congruent. They next move on to prove or disprove the claim that all segments are congruent. After disproving that claim, they modify the claim to one that can be proven: All segments of the same length are congruent.

Gabe Rosenberg, a teacher at Bard High School Early College in Manhattan, helped develop the popular Illustrative Math curriculum. He recently won the prestigious Muller Award for Professional Influence in Education.

There is so much I love about this lesson. First of all, it highlights an incredibly important and broad concept in mathematics, the importance of precise definitions. I also love that, as is often the case in mathematics, there are several different avenues to prove the claims presented. And after disproving a claim, students immediately have the opportunity to do what mathematicians would often do in such a situation, revise the claim. Finally, we get a glimpse of one of the reasons WHY we prove things in mathematics.

One criticism of Illustrative Math is its conceptual approach assumes students have some of the nuts and bolts down, when many students don’t. Do you think that’s a fair criticism? How should a teacher handle that?

I don’t really agree. The curriculum doesn’t make assumptions. It is filled with opportunities for formative assessment, where teachers can get a better sense of where their students are coming from and opportunities to use that information to make adjustments. In the case of Algebra I there are whole “extra support lessons.”

The key is that all students should have the opportunity to engage with grade level mathematics. When a student comes in with some gap, there is some evidence that what was being done before wasn’t working. Repeating it is unlikely to help. Provide only enough support so that students may genuinely engage in the math at hand. Sometimes that opportunity to see a concept used in a new and interesting context can provide students more motivation to learn it.

When a student is really struggling to understand a mathematical concept, what do you do? Can you give me an example?

The first step should be to try to figure out what the precise obstacle is. Only then can you plan a strategy to remove the obstacle.

For example, if all I knew was that a student was having difficulty completing the square, I wouldn’t have any idea where to begin. If, however, I can get them to make their thinking visible and I see that they are confusing the idea of finding the square root of a number with the idea of halving a number, I am in a much better place to help.

There’s been a backlash to ed tech in schools at the same time teachers are figuring out what to do with AI. What role do you think technology should — and shouldn’t — play in a math classroom? Do you use AI?

I do not use AI in my teaching and do not want students using it either. Partly that is for environmental and ethical reasons but also for pedagogical reasons.

My favorite book is “Mathematics for Human Flourishing” by Francis Su, which reveals how mathematics is a critical human endeavor. The core value of mathematics is lost if it is not humans engaging with it. Technology works best when it leads to more human engagement. So, for example, using dynamic software to explore a great variety of examples, can lead to students making interesting conjectures that they may then try to prove or disprove.

Are there any particular math gaps you’ve noticed among high schoolers in recent years?

I have been particularly concerned with students’ lack of a strong understanding of the concept of fractions. It’s not really a recent problem, but has continued to intensify recently. I find that some students come into high school without being able to add or multiply two fractions. The rest are able to do so because they’ve memorized some rules, but can’t tell you why those rules should be true.

A student that understands why two-thirds plus five-thirds is seven-thirds, but two-thirds times five-thirds is ten-ninths will also be able to understand why 2x plus 5x is 7x, but 2x times 5x is 10x-squared and why 2 root 3 plus 5 root 3 is 7 root 3, but 2 root 3 times 5 root 3 is 30.

Tell us about your own experience with school and how it affects your work today.

I remember being pulled out of regular math classes so that I could work on more interesting mathematics. Those meetings and summer math programs were the only opportunities to see the more broad world of mathematics. I’ve strived in my work today to provide opportunities for all students inside a math classroom to explore and discover more interesting mathematics.

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

How to fix Michigan’s literacy crisis? Start with poverty and housing solutions, experts say

2026-10-01T19:01:56+00:00

Trenten longs for the days when he lived together with his whole family. For the past six months, Trenten and his older sister have stayed with close friends while his mother lives elsewhere as she continues to search for housing that will bring them together again.

The distance is hurting his confidence, which has impacted his schoolwork and performance, said his mother, Tanisha Adkins.

Twelve-year-old Trenten has dyslexia and manages his learning through an individualized education program, or IEP, a legally required plan for students with disabilities. Because of his disability, he struggles significantly in math and reading, Adkins said. Trenten is only being identified by his first name to protect his privacy.

Researchers and advocates say Michigan officials are focused on literacy and growing overall educational achievement in the state but that should start with addressing students’ lives outside the classroom – especially those who are economically disadvantaged.

“The real answer to fixing the reading problems across the country and in Michigan is that we need to address poverty and we need to address housing instability,” said Jennifer Erb-Downward, director of Housing Stability Programs and Policy Initiatives at Poverty Solutions.

There’s more than 710,000 economically disadvantaged students across Michigan, according to 2026 state data.

Nearly 36,600 school-aged children, or almost 3 percent of pre-K through 12th grade students, experienced homelessness during the 2024-25 school year, a steady rise since the pandemic, state data shows.

About 64% of homeless students statewide graduated with the Class of 2025, 20 percentage points below the state average for all students. Homeless students also drop out at double the statewide rate of about 7%.

‘Poverty is a policy choice.’

“It is too hard for us as people in society to acknowledge the fact that we collectively are responsible for the degree of harm that exists, and that degree of harm on children,” Erb-Downward said. “Poverty is a policy choice.”

Candidates for Michigan governor, Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Republican John James, have platforms that include education goals and outcomes for the state, yet neither candidate includes ways to tackle issues of poverty as they push to improve schools.

Benson’s plan outlines expanding Rx Kids, which provides cash payments to new mothers, and ensuring pre-K for all, while James wants to expand school choice and support for Michigan boys who have fallen behind in school. Both candidates name absenteeism and literacy as major problems to address in education.

Erb-Downward said it’s difficult for many children to succeed because of multiple barriers to learning, such as midschool year moves, homelessness, and families who live separately. Experts also point to food insecurity, healthcare access, living conditions, and education equity.

“We are forcing parents into situations where they have no good decision to make,” she said.

For Trenten, each night at their previous home, the 7th grader would read books aloud with Adkins. Now, he’s withdrawn and not as interested, she said.

“He’s like, ‘It’s not the same. You’re not here full time, so why should I do it?”’ Adkins said. “That affects me a lot.”

His grades dropped after they started living apart. He improved them, but only slightly. All of this is taking a toll on the family, she said.

For now, Trenten just began the new school year living separately from his mother.

Navigating the system

In August, education advocate Jenna Pickman checked on a family living in a long-term stay hotel. They were preparing for the start of school when they realized their school transportation cards had not yet arrived in the mail.

Pickman, of the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan, reached out on behalf of the family to the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s Office of Homelessness and Foster Care. The advocacy center is a nonprofit organization that provides support to K-12 students and their families living in poverty.

District officials told her the family would need to resubmit paperwork for the McKinney-Vento Act, which protects the rights of children dealing with housing issues. Pickman said it felt like yet another barrier for the family she’s helping through recent homelessness.

It’s hard enough when families have a case worker to make calls and push for aid, Pickman said, but “if you don’t have someone doing all of that and you’re trying to function and go to work and make money and do these calls, you’re going to be two or three steps behind, and it’s going to be exhausting.”

Detroiter Imani Foster started working with the local education equity nonprofit 482Forward when she was in high school. She recalls when a local charter school closed abruptly, scrambling many families who attended.

“I remember working alongside a family who was already dealing with homelessness, already dealing with lots of other things that just come alongside homelessness, and also now are trying to scramble to find a new school for their child that will accept their child with no transcripts,” Foster said. “This has been a longtime problem.”

In DPSCD, where Trenten attends school, about 8% of students were identified as experiencing homelessness, although homeless student counts are almost always undercounted.

Stressors from inconsistent housing eventually reach children who are taking all of those feelings and anxieties to school with them, Pickman said.

“Watching the kids that I work with and just seeing their demeanor and the looks on their faces, I think it’s like a big shock,” Pickman said. “It’s a trauma.”

Living separately from Trenten was the only option for Adkins after several housing agencies left her with nowhere to go, she said. The agencies helped with temporary housing, but that did not lead to a permanent place, she said.

About 72% of Michigan homeless students reported that they stayed with others while experiencing housing insecurity, far more than other solutions, according to data from national organization SchoolHouse Connection.

Jim Schaafsma, a housing attorney for the Michigan Poverty Law Program, trains and provides resources to legal aid groups statewide while also working directly with some families in need. Over the years, Schaafsma said he repeatedly watched housing costs push more people into unstable situations.

“There’s this enormous mismatch, not just in Michigan, but nationwide, between income and housing costs, so it’s a failure of a market system, and then it’s a failure of a governmental response to that market failure, and so the two combined go to produce these terrible outcomes for families that are so often really beyond their control,” Schaafsma said.

Seeking success

Nearly half of all Michigan students are considered economically disadvantaged, which includes homeless students plus those who live in households receiving food or cash assistance or qualify for free and reduced school meals, among others.

Michigan provides more than $1.3 billion for economically disadvantaged students, an amount that has increased since 2023 when the state began moving toward a weighted funding system that allocates more money for schools for at-risk students, as well as for other vulnerable children. Yet, the state’s at-risk funding need has jumped significantly in recent years.

School districts can use state at-risk funds for a variety of services like school health clinics, crisis intervention programs, mental health services, and noninstructional and instructional offerings. The money may not go to administrative costs.

Michigan’s Housing Choice Voucher program allotted nearly 22,000 vouchers to more than 20,200 families in the program, according to the agency’s June report. These vouchers subsidize rent to private landlords to help very low-income families, veterans, and elderly individuals afford housing.

In Wayne County, the state’s largest county, vouchers accounted for about a third of statewide spending. So far this year, the program has dispersed about $104.7 million, an average of $860 in assistance per family.

The county also reported the highest number of households that were homeless when they were admitted to the program. Across the state, more than half of families were homeless at the time they were admitted to the program.

In Detroit, the city and the Detroit Public Schools Community School District have implemented several programs to battle chronic absenteeism. Experts say students from low-income homes are two to three times more likely to become chronically absent, which is defined in Michigan as missing 10% of the school year, or 18 days in a 180-day school year.

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield said absenteeism is one of her administration’s priorities for city youth, which she repeatedly stressed to voters during her campaign. She created the Ride to Rise program, which targets chronically absent students with free DDOT bus transportation for all K-12 students in Detroit.

About 85% of district students are from economically disadvantaged families, which can greatly impact student attendance rates. The chronic absenteeism rate dropped to 60.9% for the 2024-25 school year from the pre-pandemic rate of about 62%. Chronic absenteeism soared in the district during the early pandemic school years to about 76%.

DPSCD’s 2027 attendance plan aims to decrease chronic absenteeism to below 43% and raise average daily attendance to 90%.

The district’s health hubs also deliver resources to families but schools only have so much they can offer, Foster said.

“It’s hard to ask our schools to do everything right. They’re supposed to be educating the child. Now they’re feeding the child. Now they have health hubs for the child,” Foster said. “We haven’t really cracked that code yet.”

This story is part of a collaboration between Chalkbeat Detroit and the Detroit Free Press to cover key education issues in the race for Michigan’s next governor.

DJ Torres resigns from Denver school board amid escalating tension and accusations

2026-10-01T18:59:57+00:00

Denver school board member DJ Torres announced Thursday that he is resigning from the board because “too much of my time and energy have been consumed by internal conflict,” according to a statement Torres provided to Chalkbeat.

Board President Xóchitl Gaytán recently accused Torres and board Vice President Monica Hunter of a long list of policy violations, which the board was set to publicly discuss for a third time — and potentially take action on — at a Thursday afternoon meeting.

Torres’ resignation is the latest blow for an elected board that has long struggled with interpersonal conflict, public disagreements, and investigations into each other’s behavior.

A Denver Public Schools spokesperson confirmed Thursday that the district received Torres’ resignation and said Gaytán would address it at the afternoon meeting. Under state law, the board has 60 days to appoint someone to fill the vacancy.

Torres, a former DPS teacher whose son is a DPS student, was elected in November 2025 to represent central-east Denver’s District 3.

“I ran for this office because I believe our schools could do better for students,” Torres said in his statement. “I did not run for office to spend countless hours navigating interpersonal conflict. I did not run to participate in cycles of accusation and response. I did not run to watch personalities, procedures, power, and politics consume time that should belong to students.”

Denver school board gives investigators just one week to look into antisemitism allegation

Torres has repeatedly clashed with Gaytán over several issues, some of which are referenced in the allegations Gaytán levied against him and Hunter. The board ordered an investigation last month into the most serious allegation — that Hunter allegedly used antisemitic language, which she denies — but not into any of the allegations against Torres.

The allegations against Torres include that he missed multiple meetings, did not attend a board-related conference after the district paid his expenses, refused to speak with Gaytán by phone, and allegedly gave a “possible unauthorized directive” to Superintendent Alex Marrero to recognize a labor union of DPS employees.

Torres was among the board members who wanted to meet over the summer to discuss Marrero’s employment after the superintendent applied for another job and alleged that the board was overstepping its authority. That meeting didn’t happen.

Torres has defended himself against the recent allegations, saying that board policy “does not require perfect attendance.” He also disputed the allegation that he gave an unauthorized directive to the superintendent, saying he told Marrero to follow an established district policy.

Torres said he missed the board-related conference because his childcare fell through, and that he paid the district back for all of the expenses except for the conference fee, which allowed him to access the materials. He has said he refused to communicate with Gaytán by phone to ensure that their interactions were documented.

In his statement, Torres said the board’s dynamics strained his mental health.

“My mental health and how I show up for my family are my number one priority,” he said. “For the last year, I have been a public official, but I am a husband and a father first.

“My family deserves more of me,” Torres said. “So do I.”

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

2026 Colorado voter guide: What to know about Amendment 87

2026-10-01T18:27:44+00:00

Amendment 87, a ballot measure in front of voters on Nov. 3, would overhaul Colorado’s tax code to help fund education, healthcare, and early childhood programs.

The ballot measure, which requires a simple majority to pass, asks Colorado voters to eliminate the state’s flat tax rate, which was baked into the constitution after the approval of the 1992 Taxpayer Bill of Rights. TABOR, as it is known, also caps how much money the state government can keep and spend.

The amendment would instead create a graduated income tax with six tax brackets in place of the flat rate. The proposal would reduce the tax bill for the majority of residents. Meanwhile, Colorado taxpayers who make more than $500,000 would see their tax bills increase.

Proponents say the ballot measure would raise billions more each year in state revenue that would boost funding for education and healthcare programs. Meanwhile, opponents have filed a competing ballot measure to maintain the state’s existing 4.4% tax rate and argue that Amendment 87 would diminish the state’s economic competitiveness.

What does Amendment 87 do?

Currently, Colorado assesses all workers and businesses a 4.4% income tax.

The six new brackets proposed by Amendment 87 would create an ascending tax rate from 3.7% to 8.4%. The first three income brackets would require taxpayers or businesses making below $500,000 a year to pay the current tax rate of 4.4% or less. The rate would increase for taxpayers or businesses making $500,000 or more a year, capping taxes at 8.4% for those earning more than $1 million.

Colorado’s ballot information book says the measure would go into effect in 2027 and generate about $2 billion more in state revenue in 2028, although the total would depend on the state’s economy and other factors. The state expects the amendment would generate more money in later years.

The tax proposal is also structured so new money raised by the rate change wouldn’t be subject to TABOR limits. This means money generated by the state’s new graduated income tax wouldn’t be required to be refunded to taxpayers.

Who is against Amendment 87?

Amendment 87 faces a rival ballot measure in Proposition 136, which would cap the state income tax rate at 4.4% of federal taxable income for individuals and corporations. The measure wouldn’t change anything for taxpayers, but instead create a block to Amendment 87’s passage.

If both 87 and 136 pass, normally the measure with the highest number of yes votes would take effect. However, the state’s ballot book says if both measures are passed, the outcome is unclear and the state Legislature or a court will need to resolve the conflict.

Proposition 136 was filed by conservatives, including Michael Fields, who is president of conservative advocacy and policy group Advance Colorado. The pro-TABOR group has repeatedly sought to ward off changes to the state’s tax system.

In an email, Advance Colorado Vice President Kristi Burton Brown said Amendment 87 “hurts working families by sending their jobs out of the state and endangers state tax deductions for seniors on Social Security and military veterans’ retirement.”

The Colorado Secretary of State website also lists several conservative-backed groups in opposition to Amendment 87, including Keep Colorado Affordable, Let’s Go Colorado, and Affordable Colorado.

Who is in favor of changing Colorado’s income tax rate?

Advocates say Amendment 87 would reduce taxes for 97% of Colorado taxpayers.

The measure was placed on the state ballot by the Protect Colorado’s Future coalition, which includes education and community advocacy groups and is led in part by liberal fiscal policy organizations The Bell Policy Center and The Colorado Fiscal Institute.

Great Education Colorado Executive Director Lisa Weil, who is part of the coalition, said Amendment 87 puts Colorado education on a path toward a sustainable future. She added that the money would create an investment now and for the next generation.

“This is probably the best opportunity that I have ever seen to make our tax system more fair,” Weil said.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado Legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

2026 Colorado voter guide: What to know about Proposition NN

2026-10-01T18:27:33+00:00

Among the questions Colorado voters will consider on Nov. 3 is whether to give up tax refunds to help pay for education.

Proposition NN would potentially retain billions to help pay for Colorado schools if taxpayers forgo annual refunds required by the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

TABOR, as it’s known, requires Colorado to return money to residents if tax collections exceed the state’s cap on spending. The Nov. 3 ballot measure asks voters to allow the state to keep that excess and use it to increase education funding by 2% annually for the next 10 years. After that, lawmakers would need to spend a portion on education, but could spend the money on any state program or service.

Previous efforts to raise more money for education haven’t passed muster at the polls or never made the ballot.

What does Prop NN mean to taxpayers?

If Proposition NN were to pass, taxpayers would likely give up their annual TABOR refunds for at least the next several years, if not longer, according to Colorado’s ballot information book.

In the 2026-27 budget year, the measure would allow the state to keep up to $4.6 billion more in tax dollars, but it’s unlikely the state will collect that much. Estimates show Colorado is only likely to collect an additional $500 million in tax dollars that year. Metaphorically, the glass will get bigger but Colorado won’t have enough water to fill it right away.

Prop NN would provide money for education

The state would first use Proposition NN money to help fund school districts, teacher pay raises, career education, and smaller class sizes. Some money might also be used for disability and other school services. And any remaining money after paying for those expenses could be used for preschool and child care.

Lawmakers expect the money would also help free up funds for other state programs.

Why is this on the ballot?

Most Democratic lawmakers approved placing Proposition NN on this year’s ballot, while Republicans unanimously voted against it. The Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, pushed legislators to get the question before voters.

The measure marks at least the fifth attempt in the last decade to ask Coloradans to make tax changes to raise more money for public education and other things. Three previous ballot measures failed. Another measure in 2022 never made it on the ballot.

Democratic lawmakers have said the state faces a dire funding outlook. Projections show the state could face another more than $1 billion budget hole for the third year in a row, mainly due to rising costs in Medicaid.

Some lawmakers also argue the state needs to infuse more money into the education system. Two studies released in 2025 showed Colorado needs $3.5 to $4.1 billion more each year to adequately fund schools.

The arguments against Proposition NN

Groups opposed to the ballot measure point out this makes a permanent change to TABOR that will keep rebates from Colorado taxpayers.

Conservatives have also argued the state collects enough tax revenue, and Democratic lawmakers, who hold the majority in the state, should be more fiscally responsible by cutting and limiting growth in state programs.

The Colorado Secretary of State website lists several conservative-backed groups in opposition to the ballot measure, including Keep Colorado Affordable, Let’s Go Colorado, and Affordable Colorado. Your Family’s Future Alliance, a conservative political issues committee established to protect TABOR, also has voiced opposition.

The groups in favor of the ballot measure

Proposition NN has one registered group in favor called Yes for Colorado Kids, which includes a coalition of about 70 advocacy groups and six school boards. Prominent groups include the Colorado Association of School Executives, the Colorado Association of School Boards, and the American Federation of Teachers.

The coalition, led in part by the Colorado Education Association, kicked off its statewide yes campaign in July. Supporters say the measure would provide crucial funding to help educate students. They believe this measure will be more successful than previous school funding attempts because recent polls show Coloradans agree with increasing education spending.

Colorado’s 2027 Teacher of the Year is Strasburg science teacher Merci Ames

2026-10-01T16:01:00+00:00

Merci Ames, a science teacher at Strasburg High School, is Colorado’s 2027 Teacher of the Year, the Colorado Department of Education announced Thursday.

Ames has been teaching for 35 years. She also coaches the varsity and junior varsity basketball teams and sponsors the HOSA-Future Health Professionals student organization in Strasburg School District 31J, a small district about an hour east of Denver.

“She brings warmth, demand, purpose, and unwavering dedication to her classroom and the entire school community, leading through the small, often unseen acts that change lives,” Strasburg Superintendent Kelle Bongard said in a statement when Ames was named a finalist. “Mrs. Ames stands out because she consistently does the right thing, the right way, and gives of herself without expectation, and all for the benefit of her students.”

Ames was one of eight finalists for the award. As Colorado’s Teacher of the Year, she will receive a $5,000 gift from the Boettcher Foundation, continuing education credit from Adams State University, and a scholarship to award to a student of her choosing.

She will also represent Colorado in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

Ames’ term will begin in January. Colorado’s 2026 Teacher of the Year is Stephen Paulson, a social studies teacher at Greeley Central High School.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

College tuition is falling, but nobody seems to have noticed

2026-10-01T14:04:08+00:00

Two strange things are happening right now.

Politicians, pundits, and the public are swept up in a panic about the price of college. News articles describe higher education costs as — pick your evocative verb — “spiraling,” “skyrocketing,” and “soaring.” The Trump administration wants schools to lower tuition. More and more top colleges say it will cost over $100,000 a year to attend. Surveys show that cost concerns are a key driver of Americans’ disillusionment with higher education.

At the same time, the actual price of undergraduate tuition has been going down for years. While elite schools with high sticker prices draw the most attention, average net tuition for an in-state public university runs about $2,500 a year, a figure that has declined of late. Two-year college tuition is often free. “People think college costs more than it actually does,” says Wellesley economist Phillip Levine.

This remarkable reality has been widely underappreciated. So why have tuition rates fallen? And why does no one seem to realize this?

Sticker price vs. actual price

Levine became interested in college costs while planning for his own children’s education. He wanted to know how much he should save, but this was difficult to figure out since it was not clear what he should expect to pay.

His dilemma reflects the confusing college cost system: There’s the list price, which anyone can look up. Then there’s the actual price that people pay once various scholarships and discounts are applied. These two figures have increasingly diverged.

While sticker prices have gone up over the last two decades, adjusted for inflation, the average net price has trended down at both public and private colleges, according to detailed data produced by the College Board. These days, the typical family pays a fraction of the advertised tuition, though this varies by school.

(A brief definitional note: I’m focusing on tuition and academic fees. I’m not including room and board because those costs, while real, are not unique to college students; everyone has to pay for food and housing. Also note that the public college tuition figure only applies to in-state residents. Out-of-state students typically pay much more.)

Opaque pricing allows schools to charge different students different amounts — often for good reason. Students from lower-income families usually pay less because they receive need-based aid. In recent years, those students have seen particularly steep drops in tuition.

At many elite, high-priced colleges, the only families who are paying the sticker price are those who can reasonably afford it (which incidentally is a lot of them). Low and moderate-income families often pay little or nothing in tuition.

The growing disconnect between sticker prices and real tuition costs is probably not just about more aid to needy students, though. Colleges are also increasingly competing for other students by giving steep discounts in the form of merit scholarships.

There’s a serious downside to this pricing strategy: It’s hard to know the real cost of college. This creates a headache for families trying to plan and a public relations problem for higher education.

Motivated by this issue, Levine launched a nonprofit to make prices more transparent from the beginning of the college admissions process. “When I got frustrated with that in my own experience, I started thinking about other ways that I could make it easier for people,” Levine says. The College Board acquired his nonprofit earlier this year.

These and other efforts may have helped some families better understand costs, but the broader public remains fixated on the high, rising, and much-publicized sticker prices, particularly at elite private colleges.

The vast majority of undergraduates — about 3 in 4 — go to a public college, but so much media attention focuses on Ivy League universities. For some, these schools have come to represent “higher education,” even though they educate a tiny fraction of college students. This has made it difficult to change public perception. While a number of experts have written earnest think tank reports seeking to explain the reality of college prices, these efforts have barely dented conventional wisdom.

The (potential) causes of lower tuition

So what explains the recent dip in college tuition? A few theories include:

More awareness about the risks of loan debt has made students more price conscious.
The flattening and recent decline of the college-wage advantage has weakened demand for college, leading schools to reduce costs in a bid to attract students.
The price of highly educated labor — a key driver of college costs — has stopped rising.
States have increased funding for public colleges, allowing them to rely less on tuition.
External grants and scholarship opportunities may have grown.

Levine thinks the biggest factor has been supply and demand. “Colleges exist in markets, and there are market pressures, and the market pressures went in the direction of: They needed to lower prices,” he says.

To be clear, plenty of families still struggle with higher education costs. Many students take on loans to pay for living expenses above and beyond tuition. Relatively advantaged families who do have to pay the sticker price, or close to it, are stretched thin. Some students drop out without a degree and then have a hard time paying back even modest loans. Others rack up debt in for-profit trade schools that don’t lead to decent jobs. Some students return to graduate school (where prices have been rising) and take out much larger loans.

What’s also true is that after years of public clamoring for colleges and policymakers to reduce college tuition costs, many have done precisely that. If advocates for higher education want to regain public trust, they might start with better publicizing this fact.

Matt Barnum is Chalkbeat’s ideas editor. Reach him at mbarnum@chalkbeat.org.

Public schools see ‘money on the table’ in education tax credit designed for private school choice

2026-10-01T13:31:25+00:00

Tutoring. SAT prep. Summer camp. Field trips.

These are just some of the things that education advocates hope to offer public school students through the federal scholarship tax credit, a major school choice expansion that has the potential to become the one of the largest sources of federal funding for schools.

The list includes things that well-off families provide their own children as a matter of course, as well as things that public schools used to provide that now feel like luxuries.

A small but growing set of organizations — school districts, charter schools, public school foundations, start-up nonprofits, and after-school providers — is working to turn a tax credit primarily designed to cover private school tuition into a benefit for public school students. The extent of their success could determine how many children are ultimately helped by the tax credit, and influence whether more Democratic governors in particular opt their states into the program.

“Critics would say this wasn’t created for us,” said Sara Hazel, the president and CEO of the Denver Public Schools Foundation, which raises money for Colorado’s largest school district and hopes to use tax-credit dollars for tutoring and after-school scholarships. “I believe there’s money on the table, and public school students should benefit from that. That’s the bottom line of why we’re doing this.”

Some are enthusiastic, like New York charter school leader Ian Rowe, who wants his students to have, yes, SAT prep, but also horizon-expanding experiences like going up in small planes with trained flight instructors to spark an interest in aviation and aerospace careers.

Others are reluctant, like the Southern Education Foundation, whose leaders say they felt compelled to launch a tutoring-focused scholarship organization even though they oppose the policy on principle.

And some ideas challenge traditional understandings of how public schools should operate. School finance expert Marguerite Roza says districts should create a fixed package of services and charge a hefty fee for what she calls the K12 Plus Plan. That fee would then be covered by scholarships.

Treasury Department rules released this week don’t answer all the outstanding questions about how this money can and can’t be used, which could complicate planning efforts.

Skeptics say private schools, and in particular networks of religious schools, remain far better positioned to benefit from the tax credit. They also say the program is ripe for fraud and abuse, and that it will end up being profoundly regressive. In other words: Take the financial disparities in PTA fundraising, then add a few more zeroes.

“This money will disproportionately flow to private school families, and to the extent it flows to public school families, it will disproportionately flow to better off families,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, a think tank.

Education tax credit could boost tutoring, enrichment

Passed last year as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the federal scholarship tax credit goes into effect in 2027. The program reimburses taxpayers up to $1,700 for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, which in turn give the money to families for educational expenses, such as private school tuition, tutoring, or special needs services.

The law provides a mechanism to expand private school choice in states without voucher programs. It also specifies traditional public school and charter school students can benefit.

But what does it mean to provide a scholarship to a student in public school?

Deb Gist saw district leaders struggle to take advantage of similar provisions in Oklahoma’s state education tax credit when she was superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools.

Education tax credit rules are here. Will they lure Democratic governors off the fence?

Reading the federal law, Gist saw a chance for a do-over on a larger scale. “I immediately had my superintendent hat on and thought of all the things we could have funded with this,” she said.

Gist launched Future School Fund as a scholarship-granting organization to help traditional public schools and charters pay for various enrichment and education services.

Rowe, the New York charter leader and a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said a school’s role with the tax credits should be connecting families to trusted providers, such as a top SAT prep company that wants to work with talented students from low-income backgrounds.

“It’s not just that there’s tutoring,” said Rowe. “It’s tutoring from a best-in-class partner that your school has built a trusted relationship with.”

The Southern Education Foundation, which traces its roots back to post-Civil War efforts to educate formerly enslaved people, adamantly opposes the tax credit and supports efforts to repeal it.

Yet after agonizing internal debate, the group decided to launch its own scholarship-granting organization.

“We asked ourselves, ‘what do we do?’ Those 15 states educate roughly 20 million students, the majority of whom are low-income students and Black and brown students,” said Fred Jones, the foundation’s senior director of public policy and advocacy, referring to Southern states that have opted in. “How much can we redirect dollars in this ecosystem to ensure these students are best served?”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has been a vocal supporter of the education tax credit, and his office has supported efforts to figure out how to use the money for public school students.

Colorado, where Gov. Jared Polis is the lone Democratic governor to enthusiastically embrace the program, has emerged as a hot spot for organizing ways to use the tax credit.

One possible use: fifth-day programming in the state’s roughly 130 school districts, most of them small and rural, that operate on four-day school weeks.

Can the education tax credits prevent painful cuts?

Some advocates say school districts should make the program what they need it to be.

Roza, who heads the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, said her proposed K12 Plus Plan might cover what districts would have funded with federal pandemic aid, or activities covered by fees, or programs they might cut in a lean budget year — like tutoring, but also sports, arts education, and counseling.

She acknowledges that using private donations reimbursed by the federal government to pay hefty student fees is “certainly a circuitous route to get money into school districts.” But she believes it is legal, and it doesn’t require asking voters for a tax increase or begging the state legislature for more money.

Clark County Public Schools and the Public Education Foundation in Las Vegas are exploring this model. They hope to put together a package of services that local donors will find compelling.

Not everyone loves the look, though.

“We will never make up fees and then go pay for those fees with the scholarship,” said Shannon Hancock, chair of the Colorado School Foundations Association. “That’s so dishonest.”

Public school efforts to capitalize on the tax credit led Daniel Buck, a research fellow at the American Research Institute, to worry the tax credit will end up funding “a glorified slush fund for public schools.”

But private school choice groups like American Federation for Children and EdChoice — who have a vested interest in Democratic governors saying yes — have been bullish on the potential benefits to public schools.

“Educational freedom isn’t private school choice,” said Jim Blew, who worked at the U.S. Department of Education in the first Trump administration and cofounded the conservative Defense of Freedom Institute. “It’s the ability to direct your child’s education.”

Still, realizing the vision will require a massive marketing campaign and buy-in from large employers, who could facilitate payroll deductions. There are also questions about who will decide which students and districts get how much money when there isn’t enough to go around.

Even with those challenges, Josh Cowen, an education researcher at Michigan State University and a prominent opponent of private school vouchers, finds himself unexpectedly optimistic.

Similar to Roza, he believes schools can use the credit creatively, and that it will help shield them from the vagaries of federal and state budgets.

“None of my state voucher critiques have changed,” he said. “This is a different policy.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to link to Treasury Department rules governing the program that were released after publication.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

5 Detroit school board candidates run as a slate backed by ‘militant’ ‘anti-fascist’ activism group

2026-10-01T10:00:01+00:00

In a crowded race for a new majority on the Detroit school board in the November election, five candidates are banding together as a slate based on political ideology.

The self-described “militant,” “anti-fascist” activist group By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN, is seeking five seats on the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s seven-member board. The entire slate wants to oust Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, citing the recent closures of four small schools as their main motivation. Most of the candidates told Chalkbeat they would use their platforms as board members to garner more attention for the activism and organizing they are already doing.

Liana Mulholland, Nicole Conaway, Tabrian Joe, and Elizabeth Ann Williams are running against 30 other candidates for the four full-term seats on the ballot. Shawn Vaughn will face two others in the running for the one partial-term seat.

Mulholland said she wanted to run in this election – which could drastically change the district’s future – in part because there will be the most turnover in membership at one time since DPSCD was created in 2016.

“This presented a real opportunity,” Mulholland said.

School closures continue to be a sticking point for BAMN

Over the years, BAMN has led multiple protests and school walkouts in Detroit. Its activism in Detroit public schools first focused on the end of emergency management and opposition to widespread school closures.

After DPSCD was created in 2016 and Vitti was hired in 2017, BAMN’s focus shifted from opposing state emergency managers to challenging the superintendent and his policies.

Vitti did not respond to a request for comment on the slate’s criticisms of his administration.

BAMN spoke out against the district’s June closures of Ann Arbor Trail Magnet School, J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, Catherine Blackwell Institute, and Greenfield Union Elementary-Middle School.

The schools were identified to be phased out in 2022 because of low enrollment and high operating costs. Their closures were accelerated due to budgetary concerns.

Thurgood Marshall Elementary-Middle School will close at the end of this school year for the same reasons.

Mulholland, Conaway, Joe, and Vaughn told Chalkbeat they want to stop Marshall’s closure. Williams, an Osborn High School graduate, did not respond to a request for comment.

“Vitti’s been using the same excuses as emergency managers, that we need to right-size the district,” said Conaway. “We need to grow and invest in our schools.”

There are currently about 50,000 students in the district and around 72,000 seats.

All four candidates who responded said they believe there is enough money to keep the schools open. When asked where the funding would come from, they said the money is owed to DPSCD by the state because of the debt created during emergency management that Detroit Public Schools is still paying off. (DPS remained solely to collect taxes to pay off historical debts when DPSCD was created.)

The candidates said they would try to secure the additional funding by organizing in Lansing and using their platforms as board members to put pressure on legislators.

BAMN candidates want Vitti out

The four candidates who responded told Chalkbeat they want to fire Vitti or push him to resign.

The board can vote to hire or fire the superintendent, but the Detroit Financial Review Commission must approve the termination.

When asked whether they would work with Vitti to accomplish the day-to-day business of the board, the four candidates varied in their answers.

“I don’t have an answer for that right now,” said Joe, a UPS handler who previously worked as a paraprofessional and reading interventionist.

Joe added that the BAMN slate would “make decisions to best provide a quality education for Detroit students.”

Vaughn, an Osborn High School graduate employed as an organizer for BAMN, said he would do “whatever work is necessary for the district.”

“But if you’re asking if I will be kind to him, no,” Vaughn said.

Mulholland, a Cass Technical High School graduate who works at organ tissue recovery program Gift of Life Michigan, said she would be able to perform regular business, such as requesting information and data from Vitti.

“But if it’s around a fundamental disagreement, then no,” she said. “If he’s saying there’s not the money to keep Marshall open, I could not.”

Conaway, a longtime DPSCD teacher who was fired by the district after challenging its in-person work requirement in 2022, said she didn’t like the question.

“To me, that means be nice and accept what he’s saying,” Conaway said. “This is the time for leaders to step up and challenge what’s been going on instead of rubberstamping and accepting at face value.”

BAMN is the only ideological slate in the DPSCD board race

Sheila Cockrel, CEO of nonpartisan civic education group Citizen Detroit, said other candidates are receiving endorsements as slates. For example, Dr. Jameel Smith and Terry Whitfield were endorsed by 482Forward Action, the political arm of the local education justice nonprofit, as the “Detroit Kids Deserve Better Slate.”

But Cockrel said BAMN is the only one that began the race together on the same political platform.

Some research has shown that school board politics have become more influenced by national politics since the pandemic and more ideological slates have popped up across the country.

Kevin Deegan-Krause, a professor of political science at Wayne State University, said that is likely because of the increasingly polarized politics in the country today.

“The mood in America right now in general is that institutions aren’t working,” Deegan-Krause said.

The board election is an at-large race, meaning the top four vote-getting candidates will win the four full-term seats. The highest vote in the partial term race will go to one of the three in the running.

“It’s the most unpredictable and chaotic of all electoral systems,” said Deegan-Krause, also a former board member in Ferndale Public Schools. “It’s the hardest to predict who is going to win or lose.”

Running as a slate can either have a big pay off in the “winner take all” electoral system, Deegan-Krause said, or it can mean none of the candidates are helped.

“The risk is that if voters don’t like one or two people, then a good candidate is put at a disadvantage,” he said.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Parents predicted problems after NYC overhauled after-school contracts. They were right.

2026-09-30T22:27:34+00:00

Parents at several schools across New York City last spring were outraged when they lost beloved after-school providers in a contract overhaul overseen by the Department of Youth and Community Development.

Many families asked: Why mess with programs their communities liked? Parents rallied, wrote letters, and submitted petitions to keep the after-school programs they had come to rely on. Those efforts went nowhere.

Now, some parents say their warnings have come to bear, as some of the new after-school programs have struggled to hire staff and get off the ground several weeks into the school year, leaving parents exasperated and children with few options when the school day ends.

The situation was so bad at two Upper West Side middle schools that their new provider, the YMCA of Greater New York, is already out less than a month into the school year, and their longtime partner, Manhattan Youth, is returning on Oct. 19 to relaunch their sports, musical theater, and arts programs, Chalkbeat has learned. District 3 Superintendent Reginald Higgins wrote this week to families at the Computer School and West End Secondary School, both on the Upper West Side, letting them know that the YMCA was withdrawing its program.

City officials said that YMCA-run programs elsewhere were operating at full capacity this week with support from school staffers to plug gaps overseeing teams and other activities.

“Our priority is making sure young people are served, families have clear information, and these school communities have strong, stable after-school programs. It is what families deserve and what we will deliver,” said Mark Zustovich, spokesperson for the Department of Youth and Community Development.

A first after-school overhaul in years

It was the first time in years the city re-bid contracts for community-based organizations providing after-school programs for more than 100,000 elementary and middle school students. The new contracts, which run through 2032, in some cases pushed out providers who had been working with schools for more than a decade.

By re-bidding the contracts, city officials said it allowed them to add 10,000 seats and update providers’ pay rates, which now come out to around $4,000 to $7,000 per student depending on age, city officials and providers have said.

Principals were asked to rank their top three choices, but several schools said they were not awarded their top choices.

In some cases, the changes seemed like a game of musical chairs. Last school year, the YMCA operated 33 city-funded after-school sites, representatives from the organization said. In the contract overhaul, it lost 13 of those sites but gained 15 new ones — two of which the organization is dropping. So in total, it will now operate 32 sites.

“We were asked to provide comprehensive, multi-faceted programs that included leadership development, academic supports, arts, sports and more – not a singular competitive sports program or a musical theater program, but a comprehensive program,” Matt Ferraguto, a spokesperson for the YMCA of Greater New York, said in an email. “That is what we will continue to provide at all of our afterschool sites across all 5 boroughs.”

Staffing shortages and disrupted communities

Michael Kimmel, a parent of a seventh grader at Yorkville East Middle School on the Upper East Side, remains frustrated by his school’s switch to the YMCA from Manhattan Youth, whose sports league offerings have been a particular draw for many families at its various schools. But more than acting as coaches, Manhattan Youth staffers also served as school aides during the school day and were “woven into the community,” Kimmel said.

“I watched these people help to parent my kid in a very thoughtful and caring manner,” Kimmel said.

As of this week, YMCA had still failed to fully staff Yorkville East’s program, Kimmel said, noting that about 70% of his school’s roughly 250 students used the after-school program last year.

Meanwhile, he added, the school’s principal stepped in to coach the school’s soccer team, and she’s paying for additional staff with a grant that runs out mid-October. (The principal declined to respond to questions, referring them to the Education Department’s press office, which directed questions to DYCD.)

Kimmel claimed that the YMCA tried to hire the site director who had worked at the school under Manhattan Youth, but they offered her less money, so she did not take the job. The YMCA did not comment on that.

Things worked out differently at Wagner Middle School, another Upper East Side school that lost Manhattan Youth. Its new provider, New York Junior Tennis & Learning, was able to retain the woman who had been the director under Manhattan Youth and worked with the school for nearly 10 years.

“She has worked tirelessly this summer to make this transition as seamless as possible for our students and families,” Sharon Abramzon D’Agostino, the school’s parent association president said. But she echoed that it wasn’t easy to staff up the programs for the start of school, “leaving many families to deal with no coverage for their teens, work scheduling conflicts and lots of uncertainty.”

Manhattan Youth now is in 14 middle schools, according to its website — before the two additional programs it was awarded this week. That’s about half of the middle school programs it ran last year, its Executive Director Bob Townley said.

“Parents want their kids to have good programs, and I don’t blame them,” Townley said.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago School Board Election 2026: The race in District 8b, the Loop, Brighton Park

2026-09-30T21:50:08+00:00

Read in Spanish. Read in Chinese.

Juan Ignacio González, a veteran Chicago Police Department detective and local coffee shop owner, is running against college student Alexander Angeles to represent District 8b, a long, narrow swath that stretches from the Loop all the way southwest to Chicago Lawn.

Angeles joined the race as a write-in candidate at the end of August. Earlier this summer, the Chicago election authority kicked incumbent and Mayor Brandon Johnson appointee Cydney Wallace off the ballot due to challenges to her petition signatures.

Gonzalez, a Back of the Yards resident, said he was motivated to run for school board after hearing from parents who were concerned about students being used as “political pawns” on May Day. The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools reached an agreement to keep schools open on May 1 while allowing civic actions after some back-and-forth over whether to call off school for demonstrations.

“Parents were speaking about some of the challenges and low academic standards we’re facing … and those are issues that I agree with,” he said. “I feel like in my community, there’s no voice for individuals that oftentimes cannot vote or aren’t part of the political system. I was asked to consider it, I looked at the layout, and felt I can help kids in the community.”

A recent CPS graduate and University of Illinois Chicago political science major, Angeles said he is running to be a voice for students, a trait he believes is lacking among board members.

Gonzalez has served on Chicago’s police force since 1999. In that time, members of the public have filed 25 allegations of misconduct against him, all of which were deemed unfounded, according to public records compiled by the Civic Police Data Project, or CPDP.

In 2013, then-21-year-old Hernan Barron accused Gonzalez of pinning him against the wall of a meat packing plant with his police SUV during an arrest. Barron suffered a small puncture wound to his leg and was taken to a hospital for medical treatment. An internal police investigation cleared Gonzalez of any wrongdoing based on video evidence, records show.

Later that year, Barron filed a federal lawsuit against Gonzalez and the city, seeking damages for his injury and emotional pain and suffering. The city later settled the suit for $98,000, according to the CPDP.

“For nearly 27 years with the Chicago Police Department, I have been part of thousands of investigations involving some of the most serious crimes affecting Chicago — from murders and shootings to sexual assaults and other violent crimes,” Gonzalez said in an emailed statement. “My record of public safety and community service is not something that can be fully understood through an internet database. It comes from nearly 27 years of serving Chicago and continuing to live, work, invest, and serve in the community I call home.”

“I live here. I walk these streets. I own and operate a business here,” Gonzalez said. “I know families, residents, and business owners here, and people know they can approach me when they need assistance or guidance.”

“The location of that incident is also important to understanding who I am,” he added. “It occurred approximately four blocks from where I live today and six blocks from my café. This is not simply an area where I was assigned to work. It is my community.”

In 2025, Gonzalez opened DreamCatcher Café, a Back of the Yards coffee shop on West 47th Street.

Besides the coffee shop, Gonzalez owns more than a dozen properties on the Southwest Side, according to public records. In a 2023 interview with a real estate podcast, Gonzalez said he had been involved in renovating buildings with his family from a young age, later buying and rehabbing buildings on his own.

“There are both physical and financial risks that come with serving and investing in a community that has experienced serious violence,” Gonzalez said in his statement. “I have chosen to take those risks because I believe in this community, and I will continue to do so.”

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran and son of immigrant parents from Mexico, Gonzalez attended the University of Illinois Chicago. He said he wants schools in the district to have high academic standards that challenge students, many of whom also have immigrant backgrounds.

“We wanna compete, we wanna be challenged,” he said. “As a first-generation American, I don’t wanna be thought less of just because I’m from a certain ZIP code.”

Gonzalez also wants to improve math and reading instruction, and believes schools could increase their career and technical education programs. Offering pathways to careers in construction could benefit new young immigrant students who have settled on the Southwest Side and “want to create things with their hands,” he said.

“We have an incredible creative mindset in our community — in the arts, in the way we fix properties,” he said.

Gonzalez also wants to look into how Chicago Public Schools uses its budget and how resources could be spent to better the quality of education.

“Why are we losing students and taxpayers to the suburbs?” he asked. “We’re a world-class city and we expect a world-class education.”

Gonzalez has received contributions from the pro-school choice, politically centrist organization The Urban Center and the political arm of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, which advocates for publicly funded, independently run charter schools. He is also supported by the Common Ground Collective, an anti-CTU political action committee that is heavily funded by billionaire Michael Sacks and says it aims to engage voters around “effective progressive policies.”

Read Gonzalez’ full questionnaire.

Angeles threw his hat in the ring as a write-in candidate after learning that Wallace, the incumbent, had been removed from the ballot.

Angeles attended Southwest Side high school John Hancock College Prep, where he was a student member of the Local School Council. During his time at Hancock, Angeles says he heard from students worried about the impact of district-wide budget cuts, the need for better school lunches and more support from teachers.

“If we want to make decisions for the next generation, then we need someone who’s part of that generation to lead that fight,” he said.

A son of immigrant parents, Angeles also works as a cashier at McDonald’s and as an auto parts specialist at O’Reilly Auto Parts to help support his family — an experience other students can relate to, he said. He lives in West Lawn, part of the district he is vying to represent.

While he understands voters may be skeptical about a recent high school graduate running for elected office, he said he knows the current issues affecting students and has the drive to solve them.

“I’m full of energy, he said. “That’s the pro of being young.”

Angeles says his platform aligns with that of the Chicago Teachers Union, which includes staunch opposition to school closures. But if elected, he says he plans to reach compromises with board members on divisive issues.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include write-in candidate Alexander Angeles.

Francia Garcia Hernandez covers Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards for Block Club Chicago. Contact Francia at francia@blockclubchi.org.

Chicago School Board Election 2026: The citywide race for president

2026-09-30T20:30:34+00:00

Read in Spanish. Read in Chinese.

Chicago’s first-ever citywide race for school board president has all the makings of a political drama: millions in campaign contributions, special-interest group endorsements, and two candidates bowing out midstream.

Voters across the city will finalize their pick among three candidates to lead the Chicago Board of Education on Nov. 3. Chicago’s school board president will be directly elected for the first time as more than 30 years of mayoral control ends. The person in this powerful, but unpaid position represents the board publicly, runs board meetings, and helps set the agenda. They will work with 20 other members to set a vision and goals for CPS for the next four years.

Former Chicago Teachers Union deputy political director Hilario Dominguez, who graduated from and worked in Chicago Public Schools, is running on a progressive platform that includes expanding preschool to all 3-year-olds and demanding more education money from the state, rather than cutting. The CTU is fueling Dominguez’s candidacy financially as it tries to hold on to control of the school board, which it seized after former union organizer Brandon Johnson became Chicago mayor in 2023.

Jessica Biggs, a former CPS principal and current school board member, wants to prioritize financial stability and high-quality education for every student. She’s backed by the progressive Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents mostly low-wage Black and Latino CPS workers and is in a bitter dispute with the CTU. She’s also solidified support from the business community and former government officials who worked under former mayor Rahm Emanuel, including former CPS CEO Janice Jackson and former deputy mayor for education Beth Swanson.

Attorney Victor Henderson, who serves on the board of Urban Prep Charter Academy, is centering his campaign on advancing student achievement and fiscal responsibility. He broke open contribution caps when he lent his campaign $500,000 and has secured support from two Black congress people, prominent lawyers and pastors of large Black South and West Side churches, including Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina and Byron Brazier of Apostolic Church of God.

Leadership consultant Sendhil Revuluri, who served on the school board under former mayor Lori Lightfoot, dropped out of the race on Sept. 30. His platform promised a focus on student learning and community engagement and advocated for a board that’s independent of the CTU, the powerful union that represents roughly 30,000 teachers and CPS staff and is known for its strong focus on social justice issues.

A fifth candidate, Jennifer Custer, a former educator now serving on the board, dropped out in late August.

All the candidates say they are running because they want CPS to better serve students and families. But they differ broadly in their approaches — Biggs wants to focus on a better-functioning board, Henderson on offering an outsider perspective to issues like the budget crisis and charter fundings, and Dominguez is proposing big initiatives, such as increasing access to youth jobs.

Only Dominguez is ruling out closing schools amid the district’s steady enrollment losses, though the others say they would work with communities and move with deliberate care in weighing campus mergers. Henderson would consider opening more privately run charter schools and wants to see them better supported, while the others would further scrutinize existing charters.

The hall leading into Henderson’s downtown office is covered in framed newspaper articles about clients he has represented as a well-known defense attorney: actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of allegedly faking a racist attack; Ald. William Beavers, who was convicted of tax evasion; the Jackie Robinson West Little League, which was stripped of its U.S. World Series championship title; and a CPS principal who sued after being ousted by her Local School Council.

Henderson is the only candidate in the race who doesn’t have experience as an educator. But the 65-year-old’s four grown children all attended CPS elementary schools in Beverly and selective enrollment high schools.

Henderson is not only a lawyer, but also a former certified public accountant. He says he can read contracts, understand budgets, and take on powerful interests.

“On that board, you need the right combination of people,” he said. “You have to have parents. You have to have principals. You have to have community members, but you also need to have lawyers and maybe doctors.”

Henderson became motivated to run for school board president after he got pulled onto what he calls the recovery board of Urban Prep Academies. At the time, in 2023, the school board was trying to close the charter school network after CPS’ inspector general found “dismal” financial practices, including unaccounted-for spending, taking high-interest loans, and needing cash advances. The founder and former CEO of Urban Prep was recently charged with embezzling more than $100,000 from the organization.

Henderson chalks up Urban Prep’s problems to a bad administration, but says the attempt to shut down the charter network, which serves almost exclusively Black male students, was wrongheaded. Urban Prep officials say they produce better academic outcomes than district-run schools for Black male students, who historically have lagged behind other student groups. “You don’t have those students and their families suffer.”

Henderson was part of a group of Black men who rallied on behalf of Urban Prep. The charter organization sued CPS and was allowed to keep two schools open.

Henderson says CPS needs to better support charter schools. He is sympathetic to the argument that charter school operators should receive a funding boost from CPS.

Henderson said he would commission a forensic audit. If it turns out that CPS needs additional revenue, he said he has the skill set to go to Springfield and make the case.

He said he wants to serve because he cares deeply about education.

“Men who are educated are more likely to get married, have families. You feel better about yourself,” he said. “The data shows that the more education you have, as a general rule, the more you make. Education is just transformational.”

Read Henderson’s full questionnaire.

School board member Jessica Biggs says her experience leading last year’s search for the district’s leader motivated her to run for president.

Biggs says she successfully secured buy-in from all board members on the job description for the superintendent after what she calls an “authentic” process of gathering community feedback.

“So that just showed me what was possible if there was leadership,” she said.

But the process fell apart after the candidates’ names became public and one dropped out. Biggs said she believes what happened was driven by political divisions on the board, leaving her demoralized to such an extent that she decided she didn’t want to run again as a board member.

“There were times when I very much wanted things to move forward, or be brought for a public vote, and was not able to do that,” Biggs said.

To have the impact she was seeking, Biggs realized, she needed to take a lead in setting the board agenda. The way to do that was to run for board president, Biggs said.

“If I was going to continue to spend my time on this board,” Biggs said. “it was important to me to be able to have that authority.”

Biggs grew up in Wheaton, now lives in Douglas, and has one daughter, who attends a fine arts magnet school.

Biggs was one of three members elected in 2024 without the backing of powerful interest groups, including the Chicago Teachers Union and the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. She won her race with about 45% of the vote despite being massively outspent. On election night, she said she felt like people wanted independent board members. “I feel really loved,” she said.

She works for the Southwest Organizing Project, a community organization on the Southwest Side on an initiative that connects school communities with a range of services.

Biggs was fired as principal of a South Side elementary school in 2018 after an inspector general report found that she instructed staff to mark students as tardy even if they missed much of the school day and had them pick children up in their cars without getting written permission from their parents.

She was put on CPS’ “Do Not Hire” list. But she was removed last year, after previous attempts to get off the list were denied. Biggs has contended that her firing was political.

In her two years on the board, she opposed some of the biggest measures pushed by mayor-appointed and CTU-aligned members. She held firm last year against the push to take a loan to avoid cuts. This summer, she voted against an amendment that reversed layoffs by assuming the state would provide more money for CPS.

Since she ran two years ago, she’s gone from a “no” on school closings to leaving the question blank on our CPS School Board questionnaire. She says she doesn’t think there is a yes-or-no answer.

“I think this is a false dichotomy,” Biggs said. “There are spaces in this district where kids’ needs are being met by small schools, and there are spaces in this district where kids’ needs are not being met by what we are offering in a school.”

Read Biggs’ full questionnaire.

After months of speculation about the candidate the CTU might champion for the board’s top job, the union settled on one of its own when it endorsed Dominguez, who left his job at the union before launching his campaign. Dominguez says he’s unapologetic about his yearslong role as a union stalwart. The only presidential contender who worked as a full-time CPS teacher, he is also the husband of an assistant principal in the district.

Dominguez says his education advocacy goes back to his time as a student at Whitney Young Magnet High School, when he organized a walkout to protest budget cuts in 2010.

A native of the Pilsen neighborhood, he worked as a special education teacher on the Southwest Side. He took two years off to focus on political campaigns, including his own failed City Council bid. He later helped organize an 11-day teacher strike in 2019, when he was arrested with other union members holding a sit-in protest at the offices of the failed Lincoln Yards megaproject. Trespassing charges against him and the others were later dropped.

After going to work for the CTU full-time in 2022, Dominguez also worked on Johnson’s breakout campaign and on the candidacies of CTU-backed school board members in 2024. The union handily outspent well-resourced pro-school-choice groups in those races. It helped secure wins in three of nine contested races.

Dominguez said he has made more than 100 lobbying trips to Springfield over the years, “more than all my opponents put together.” So far, though, the push to secure an influx of additional state revenue for schools has fallen flat. Dominguez says that as president, he would work to engage more families in lobbying and rally districts statewide.

He is proposing offering free, full-day preschool to all city 3-year-olds through a partnership with private childcare centers and home-based daycares. He says the shift would drive economic development, boost the district’s enrollment, and “do right by families” by easing childcare costs.

Dominguez’s other priorities are also closely aligned with the union’s. He said he will push for better cafeteria food and the continued expansion of the Sustainable Community Schools program.

He staunchly opposes any school closures, arguing that the district and city should instead use vacant space in “supposed underutilized schools” to expand services such as healthcare clinics and library branches.

“When we talk about underenrolled schools, we should be clear that we’re talking primarily about Black and brown students in Black and brown neighborhoods that deserve more investment and not punishment,” he said.

In 2021, Dominguez faced a complaint from a fellow teacher who claimed Dominguez made a Nazi salute, called him Hitler in front of students, and questioned that teacher’s sexual orientation. The complaint was later withdrawn. Dominguez called the complaint “baseless” and said he was standing up to a racist colleague who had disrespected a student.

Read Dominguez’s full questionnaire.

Editor’s note: This story was updated after school board president candidate Sendhil Revuluri dropped out on Sept. 30. You can still read his full questionnaire.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Contact Sarah at skarp@wbez.org.

Voter guide 2026: How Colorado State Board of Education candidates answered 9 questions

2026-09-30T19:40:16+00:00

Three seats on Colorado’s nine-member State Board of Education are up for election on Nov. 3. Democrats currently hold a slim majority on the partisan board.

Read all of Chalkbeat's 2026 election coverage

The State Board of Education holds schools and school districts accountable for student test scores, hears appeals when school districts reject charter school applications, and sets standards for what students should learn and what schools should teach.

The board also sets statewide rules, and is currently in the midst of deciding how and when public funding should pay for enrichment programs for homeschooled students.

Board members are elected for six-year terms. They do not earn a salary.

One board member at large represents the entire state. The other eight members represent Colorado’s eight congressional districts. The seats representing Congressional Districts 1, 3, and 7 are up for election this year. All three races feature incumbents.

We asked the candidates about school safety, standardized tests, whether they support changing state tax rules to raise more money for education, and more.

Read their answers below. Some answers have been trimmed for length.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Why a puzzling wait for state test scores is especially hard on Philadelphia middle schoolers

2026-09-30T19:02:00+00:00

The high school application season is a perennial source of stress for Philadelphia eighth graders.

But this year, some students and families say the process is even more frustrating. That’s because a key criteria for admissions into several of the magnet schools — state test scores — still haven’t been released.

“We don’t really know what they’re going to do,” said Alma Huth, 13. She plans to tour around seven schools this fall and submit her top choices by the district’s November deadline. But when it comes to how schools will review her scores, “they don’t really tell us anything,” she said.

Most years, district leaders share preliminary scores from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, or PSSAs, with teachers and families before the school year begins. But that hasn’t happened over a month into this school year, leaving the roughly 8,500 district eighth graders who usually go through the school selection process without key information for their applications.

In response, Superintendent Tony Watlington delayed the school selection process by several weeks, and the application window will be open from Oct. 5 to Nov. 24. He also announced that applicants will submit both 2025 and 2026 assessment data as part of the process.

Students and parents Chalkbeat spoke with said they appreciated the delay, which gives them more time to tour schools and consider their options. But they said the application process, which has changed several times in recent years, has become only more confusing. That’s because without state test scores, many students still don’t know whether they’ve met eligibility requirements for admission to certain schools.

What makes the situation more puzzling for families is that several city charter schools and other districts in the state have released PSSA scores. Yet Philadelphia school officials have said the release of official results for district elementary and middle school students, along with scores for the state Keystone test for high schoolers, is “on hold” by the state. The district’s website states that results are expected sometime in November.

“What I don’t understand is what they’re checking,” Leo Stober, an eighth grade student at the Science Leadership Academy Middle School, told the Board of Education during its meeting last week. “It shouldn’t take this long for these PSSA scores to come out.”

Watlington acknowledged the frustration of students like Stober during the meeting and said families would get district support with school selection decisions once scores are released. In the future, he said, “it’s my hope that test results will be reported faster and there will be no need for subsequent delays.”

Erin James, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said the department’s review of state assessment data continues.

Students, families lament Philly’s complicated choice system

Philadelphia is home to several competitive magnet schools, which often offer more-rigorous academic options compared with the district’s neighborhood schools. While Watlington has said he wants to reinvest in neighborhood schools, many regard magnet schools as more prestigious.

The result is families often scramble to get their children a seat at the most competitive magnet high schools, like Julia R. Masterman and Central High School. Some kids also covet selective admissions schools for specialized arts or science programs.

Some have criticized the system for creating unequal educational opportunities for families, and favoring those with time and resources to navigate the complicated application process.

The district revamped the process in 2021, which included designating priority ZIP codes, in an effort to make it more equitable. Still, the most coveted magnets have proportionally fewer Black and Hispanic students and more white and Asian American students compared with the district average.

To get a spot in a selective school, students submit grades, PSSA scores, attendance information, and in some cases, portfolio elements. Students rank their top choices, and those who meet a school’s standards then enter a lottery to determine if they get a spot.

Still, more students are eligible for many competitive schools than there are seats. If a student applies to a school where they don’t meet the standards, it can essentially waste one of their lottery picks.

Julia Farmer, 13, said she thinks she did well on the PSSA but is also “kind of afraid” to see her scores: “I rather them come out sooner so I could just get it over with.”

One positive, Farmer said, was that the application process felt “a little more chill” because of the delay, which gave her and her mom more time to look at schools. She hopes to get into an arts-focused high school for next year.

Margaret Hogan, whose 13-year-old daughter is applying to schools this year, has gone through this process previously with her son, who is now a senior. She’s used to the uncertainty, she said, but “not having the data, I think, is causing stress on the kids.”

For eighth grader Alma Huth, high school holds excitement and opportunity. She hopes to go to either the High School For Creative and Performing Arts or Central. But the process would ultimately be a lot easier, she said, if there weren’t so many choices.

“I feel like there’s just so many good options,” she said. “It’s like, I don’t know, sometimes I would rather not have so many.”

Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org.

15 West: Blaise or Hargrove? What to know about the District 5b school board race

2026-09-30T19:01:59+00:00

La Raza: Norma Ríos-Sierra, Distrito 3a

2026-09-30T17:32:09+00:00

https://laraza.com/2026/09/24/hacer-un-verdadero-trabajo-de-participacion-comunitaria-hacer-que-las-personas-sientan-que-son-escuchadas-norma-rios-sierra/

La Raza: Peter Gonzales, Distrito 3a

2026-09-30T17:22:06+00:00

Sendhil Revuluri drops out of race for Chicago school board president

2026-09-30T15:21:09+00:00

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Sendhil Revuluri is dropping out of the race to become Chicago’s first elected school board president, narrowing the field to three candidates.

Revuluri, a former vice president of the Chicago Board of Education under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, said in a statement Wednesday that “the gusher of special-interest cash has crowded out the voices of real Chicagoans” — a nod to the well-funded special interests and labor unions who have funded and backed some of his opponents.

“This wasn’t an easy decision,” Revuluri said in the statement. “I ran my campaign the way I hope our schools are governed: realistically, honestly, and focused on our students’ success. But given what’s actually standing in the way, I can’t responsibly keep asking Chicagoans for their contributions, their time, or their votes.”

As of late September, Revuluri had raised more than $700,000 — the most of any candidate — though much of his campaign has been self-funded. Candidate Jessica Biggs, a current elected board member, is backed by SEIU, a labor union that represents school support workers in CPS. And the Chicago Teachers Union is backing candidate Hilario Dominguez, the CTU’s former political director.

Revuluri’s third opponent, defense attorney Victor Henderson, is not backed by major special interests and has also largely self-funded his campaign.

Jennifer Custer, a current elected board member, also dropped out of the board president’s race in August.

The school board president decides what appears on the agenda each month and, unlike the mayorally appointed president of the current partially elected board, will be able to vote on all matters.

Revuluri was the first person to declare his candidacy last October. He was endorsed by Chicago Democrats for Education but did not receive endorsements or funding from other major education groups or unions.

His campaign has focused on improving academic outcomes for students. He has criticized the current board for becoming too mired in politics, though he acknowledged that the board he served on had also been embroiled in the politics of school reopening during the pandemic.

Revuluri, a former teacher, said he’s pro-labor but has often been critical of the Chicago Teachers Union. He differed from his opponents on the issue of closing schools, which he said should be considered if doing so would improve the academic experience for students.

Revuluri’s name will still appear on the ballot.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Should parents be held accountable for their children’s chronic absenteeism? Board candidates weigh in.

2026-09-30T14:19:05+00:00

As Detroit’s school district has explored ways to reduce chronic absenteeism, the conversation has at times turned to whether parents should be held more accountable for their children’s absences.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District board has also discussed incentives for parents to ensure their kids get to school. With 34 candidates running for five board seats in the Nov. 3 election, it’s a conversation newcomers will likely contribute to.

Researchers generally frown on penalties and incentives for parents and students, citing research showing they don’t move the needle on attendance. Michigan law allows parents to face penalties for their children’s poor attendance and allows the state to halt public assistance for parents whose children are missing too much school.

DPSCD has had some success, however, in paying high school students for perfect attendance from January to March. It plans to expand the program to middle school students this school year.

At a meeting last October, board member Monique Bryant said she doesn’t understand “how we are not more firm with our parents and their responsibility to get their children to school.” At the same meeting, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said “it is time to enhance the accountability and engagement” with parents.

High rates of student absenteeism have plagued Detroit schools for years, impeding the district’s academic reform efforts. When students aren’t in school, they aren’t learning, and research shows students who are frequently absent are more likely to struggle academically and drop out.

In DPSCD, 60% of children were chronically absent at the end of the 2025-26 school year, down from 76.7% in the 2021-22 school year, during the pandemic. But district and city officials say it’s still too high and have continued looking for options to improve attendance, including by providing more transportation options for students and expanding after-school programs.

Chalkbeat asked candidates their thoughts on whether parents should be held accountable for their children’s absences. Of the 34 candidates, 31 are running for four seats with four-year terms, and three are running for a partial two-year term.

Here’s what those who filled out our questionnaire told us. You can also read their responses to a question about improving attendance in the district here.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

Internal superintendent hires can contribute to district stability, new study says

2026-09-30T11:00:01+00:00

A new Vanderbilt University study digging into Tennessee superintendent turnover found top leaders hired from within a school district were less likely to resign to take another job than candidates recruited externally.

Superintendent churn can come with a big cost, according to a separate paper published this month at Brown University. Chronic superintendent turnover affects student achievement compared to students in districts with long-term stable leadership, the study found.

Internal hires could be a path for districts looking for stability and long tenures, said the Vanderbilt study co-author Jason Grissom.

“This is suggesting to me that often internal hires have come up in that system, they are likely to have deep roots in that community,” said Grissom, the faculty director of the Tennessee Education Research Alliance and a professor of public policy and education. “They are more likely to be committed to being in that system for the long term. You’re less likely to lose them to an alternative employment, another superintendency, or these other kinds of opportunities outside of the public school system.”

The Vanderbilt University study gathered 15 years of superintendent data across the state to dig into why district leaders leave their top jobs and what they do after leaving. Previous studies had examined only state administrative data, Grissom said, which simply tracked if superintendents resigned to take another Tennessee school district job. The new study tracks exiting superintendents beyond the state system.

Vanderbilt researchers compiled data following superintendents departing out of state into new superintendent jobs, second careers in the private sector, or education policy-related work in the government and nonprofit sectors.

Student underachievement can be exacerbated even further in districts with repeated superintendent churn and high-poverty student populations, according to the Brown study. High-poverty districts with chronic superintendent churn fell around two months of learning behind more superintendent-stable districts.

Why superintendents leave their jobs isn’t entirely clear. Grissom said more educators are being promoted to principals and then superintendents at younger ages than in years past, and therefore might be ready for a second career well before retirement age.

The Vanderbilt study also found a correlation between school board turnover and superintendent exits, with an even stronger connection between school board changes and superintendent retirements.

White argued superintendent stability could be a relatively inexpensive goal for districts to pursue, compared to other district-wide programs and interventions.

“Whatever its magnitude, the value of stability may lie less in stability itself than in what superintendent continuity enables, such as improved trust and relationships, deep knowledge of the community and students served, and strong districtwide instructional coherence,” White writes.

Superintendent churn has stabilized nationally after a pandemic high, according to a new analysis from consulting firm ILO Group. The Vanderbilt data mirrors that trend, with a steep drop-off in superintendent turnover after a COVID-era spike.

Still, several large Tennessee school districts have grappled with superintendent losses in recent years. Williamson County Schools is currently in the midst of a superintendent search. Former Superintendent Jason Golden resigned this summer to take a job in a neighboring district weeks before a contentious partisan school board election.

Leadership stability has been a major issue in Tennessee’s largest school district. Memphis-Shelby County Schools has churned through four superintendents in five years, and more change could be on the horizon if an impending state takeover moves forward.

Independent auditors this year pointed to leadership instability as a critical issue that eroded institutional knowledge, worsened staff retention, and weakened internal controls. The state-funded audit also found the district has no formal documented plan for leadership transitions — which has fragmented record-keeping practices and district policies.

Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.

Memphis school board taps new leadership

2026-09-30T00:09:13+00:00

The Memphis-Shelby County school board voted Tuesday to replace previous board chair Natalie McKinney with Tamarques Porter, the District 4 school board representative first elected to his seat in 2024.

“Leadership is not simply about how you govern in a moment,” Porter said after he was nominated by new board member T.L. Harris. “It’s about who can collectively bring board members together, the community together, and how we can set a vision for the future.”

McKinney was nominated for reelection but received one vote, and she ultimately voted for Porter after he received the majority of votes. Towanna Murphy nominated and voted for herself.

Sable Otey will join Porter as board vice chair, a complete leadership turnover for the board as it faces an uncertain year ahead amid a looming state takeover threat and major decisions like pending school closures.

The board sued state Republicans this summer over the new takeover law, which aims to install a politically appointed oversight board with sweeping authority over Tennessee’s largest school district.

The board won a temporary reprieve this summer, holding off the takeover for the time being. But board attorneys will be in federal court on Friday to argue over who gets to control the district in the coming months while the lawsuit plays out in court. It could take months or potentially years to resolve.

If the federal judge again sides with the elected school board after Friday’s hearing, the elected school board and district administrators will continue to govern Memphis schools.

If the court allows the state-appointed board to take control, it would have final say over MSCS’ annual budget and charter approvals. Its members could also replace the district’s superintendent. That was the first move a similar Houston takeover board made in 2023, and Republican lawmakers pushing for a Tennessee takeover have repeatedly referred to the Texas takeover as a model for Memphis.

The intervention could last up to six years if MSCS continues to meet four of the six criteria outlined in the takeover law.

Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.

After Nikole Hannah-Jones’ essay, Mamdani says NYC schools need ‘urgent’ change but offers few specifics

2026-09-29T21:20:03+00:00

A day after New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones publicly challenged Mayor Zohran Mamdani to confront school segregation, the mayor offered his first response to her account of the harm her daughter experienced in segregated schools.

“It was a devastating piece,” Mamdani said Tuesday on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show in response to Hannah-Jones’ essay. “And it is an articulation, in many ways, of the systemic nature of the way that the public school system in our city failed her child.”

Mamdani said improving the public school system is “an urgent necessity — and it’s urgent because we know that Black and brown students are not being adequately served.”

Mamdani said his administration is developing plans to address segregation, but he did not name any concrete policies to promote racial or socioeconomic integration or explain how he would improve struggling schools. Nine months into his term, Mamadani has offered few plans for improving the nation’s largest school system.

The mayor acknowledged that other families have experienced similar problems as those described by Hannah-Jones and her daughter, Najya. Hannah-Jones recounted her daughter’s elementary school was chaotic, suffered from teacher absences, and often left student work ungraded. Najya said her middle school was disorganized and she had difficulty getting adequate instruction from her teachers, though Hannah-Jones viewed the school as caring and responsive. When Najya chose to enroll in a selective public high school, she felt unprepared.

Hannah-Jones challenged Mamdani on Monday to explain how he would reduce racial and socioeconomic isolation of students in New York City’s public schools, among the nation’s most segregated.

Mamdani indicated Tuesday that his administration will lean on local working groups — which are charged with tackling a wide range of issues from school segregation to underenrollment — to help come up with solutions. So far, five of the city’s 32 local superintendents have launched such groups. Each district is expected to have one within the next three years.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Hannah-Jones said she is glad the mayor committed to releasing a plan to address segregation. She was also encouraged that his schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, has pursued efforts to promote integration during his time as a local superintendent in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Still, she worries that momentum on the issue has “gone completely dormant” in the wake of the pandemic. That could make it more politically difficult for the mayor to propose sweeping policy measures, which often invite intense backlash.

Nikole Hannah-Jones at an event on Sept. 25 in Washington, DC. The award-winning author this week challenged Mayor Mamdani to address New York City's segregated school system.

She noted that community buy-in is important, but worries that deferring to task forces can be a stalling tactic.

“I also know, having studied this issue for a very long time, that working groups can also be a way of studying an issue perpetually or in perpetuity,” she said. “There also is going to be required some leadership, and for the mayor to come out strongly and say that this is what his expectations are, and this is what he thinks the city should be doing.”

On the campaign trail, Mamdani embraced some policies to address segregation, including rethinking gifted programs and examining potential bias in the specialized high school admissions test.

More recently, he said the test for the specialized high schools — the sole basis for admission for eight schools — does not need to change. His administration has not committed to a timeline for reforming admissions into gifted programs, which like the specialized high schools are highly segregated by race.

As a candidate, Mamdani also indicated he would adopt some unimplemented recommendations from a school diversity task force convened under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, which included a call to eliminate middle schools’ ability to admit students based on their academic records, a process known as screening that is often blamed for exacerbating segregation.

Pressed by Lehrer on whether he would embrace that idea — or others such as rethinking school zones — Mamdani did not directly answer.

“We are exploring every single tool that we have at our disposal to ensure that this is going to be a very different school system moving forward than the one that we have inherited,” Mamdani said.

He promised a plan “to deliver a rigorous and high-quality education” to all students. “It should not be that a child or a family can only come to expect that if they are in the right school,” he said. “Every school should be the right school.”

The mayor’s responses echo some of his predecessors. The de Blasio administration argued that efforts to reduce segregation should come from local communities rather than top-down from city officials.

David Banks, the schools chief under Mayor Eric Adams, was also reluctant to tackle school segregation, arguing that the city should focus on improving schools in high-need neighborhoods rather than making integration a central strategy.

Despite the political and policy challenges, Hannah-Jones said she still believes integration should be an urgent priority.

“For all of our hand wringing, for all of our think pieces, there are kids in these classrooms right now who deserve an education that will help them reach their potential and transform their lives,” she said. “So I hope that we will get enough political will to start to act on this issue seriously.”

Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Title IX changes by Trump administration could tee up broader goal: defining sex in federal law

2026-09-29T21:02:38+00:00

The U.S. Department of Education cast changes to Title IX rules announced Monday as a “commonsense” step to protect women and girls by reinstating regulations from the first Trump administration.

But while Monday’s move arguably is a formality, it cements an approach to investigating campus sexual assault and harassment that many advocates believe harms survivors. It also sets the stage for removing protections for LGBTQ students under federal civil rights law.

The department’s move to formally rescind Title IX regulations adopted in 2024 under President Joe Biden wasn’t surprising, advocates and experts said. But the effort to clarify where Title IX regulations stand may also foreshadow the agency’s more-ambitious regulatory priorities, which include defining sex.

The Biden-era regulations rescinded Monday had already been tossed out by a federal judge in 2025. They stated that gender identity is covered by Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal support. That was cheered by LGBTQ students and their supporters.

Monday’s announcement instead formally codifies Title IX rules developed during President Donald Trump’s first term under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and released in 2020. Those rules do not define sex, but treat it as a binary.

The 2020 rules were widely rebuked by advocates for survivors of sexual assault. They argued the rules would make it harder for victims to prove their case, giving more rights to the accused than previous rules.

The Education Department’s Monday announcement shied away from noting the rules’ effects on harassment investigations. But critics of the Trump administration’s latest move noted the announcement came on the heels of a lawsuit laying out devastating accusations of rape at Cornell University. The university investigated the case through a Title IX process, but the lawsuit alleges most of the accused students received weak sanctions.

The most significant result of Monday’s announcement might be that the rules that schools have been “expected to follow since basically the early days of this administration are now what is finally going to be reflected in all the places where you would expect them to be,” said Kayleigh Baker, a consultant with TNG Consulting and a member of the Association of Title IX Administrators’ advisory board.

Education Department could narrow Title IX’s definition of sex

Title IX has suffered from a case of regulatory whiplash.

The 2024 Biden rules for Title IX were almost immediately challenged by Republican-led states before they were struck down the following year. The second Trump administration started operating under the 2020 rules. But the Title IX rules published in the Federal Register and elsewhere didn’t really reflect that reality, said Baker.

Those 2020 regulations focused on the process of investigating Title IX complaints, particularly allegations of harassment and assault. The rules require that both K-12 and higher education institutions notify anyone accused of a policy violation of the allegations lodged against them, said Baker.

The rules also set out minimum wait times for hearings on violations of harassment and assault. That can significantly lengthen the time it takes to reach a resolution in a sexual misconduct case, particularly for K-12 schools, Baker said.

Overall, these rules have been followed by schools for quite some time, she said.

Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president of Defending Education, a conservative advocacy group, helped work on the 2020 Title IX rules while at the Education Department. The process the department developed protects “both men and women,” she said. The department heard from students accused of sexual misconduct — often men — who were not given enough opportunities to dispute the allegations against them.

“What it really does is make sure that these allegations are taken with the seriousness and gravity that they demand,” she said.

But Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice for the National Women’s Law Center, said her organization has heard from survivors over the years who have said the department’s prescribed Title IX investigation process felt traumatic and unfair. The Cornell story only raises more questions, Patel said.

Reverting to 2020 Title IX rules “creates less safe campuses. It removes obligations for educational institutions to respond to sexual harassment,” Patel said. “It has led to fewer survivors wanting to report because they view the Trump administration’s 2020 rule as not one that is intended to protect them.”

Parshall Perry said shifting to the 2020 Title IX rules also sets the stage for the Education Department to change the definition of sex in Title IX. The department has said Title IX’s definition of sex should “refer exclusively to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.”

But if the administration takes a crack at defining sex in the civil rights law through rulemaking, right now there’s nothing stopping the next administration from rolling it back.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer that states can ban transgender students from participating in women’s and girls’ sports. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion that, at least in the context of sports, the plain meaning of “sex” in Title IX “cannot plausibly be interpreted to refer to anything other than biological sex.” But some conservatives expressed disappointment that the court did not go further in defining sex.

The only way to stop the whiplash is for Congress to define sex under Title IX, Parshall Perry said. But that politically sensitive proposition hasn’t found much traction on Capitol Hill.

“This is regulatory ping-pong,” she said. “We’ve been back and forth between Democratic and Republican administrations now for the better part of 16 years.”

In the meantime, moving ahead with the rule would send a “cruel message” to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students, Kei Williams, executive director of the NEW Pride Agenda, a New York-based nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ students, wrote in an emailed response to questions.

“Students are already afraid to report harassment or ask for help; this would exacerbate those fears,” Williams wrote.

Lily Altavena is a national reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Lily at laltavena@chalkbeat.org. Lily is on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook.

K-2 reading growth slowed last year in the Detroit district. Here’s what administrators say caused it.

2026-09-29T10:00:01+00:00

After the first year of the Detroit district’s $94.4 million literacy lawsuit settlement, which paid for hundreds of academic interventionists and after-school tutoring, there were big improvements in reading scores for early learners.

But growth stalled last school year for students in kindergarten to second grade in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

In retrospect, the school system should have provided more individualized interventions for students who were closer to reaching grade level in reading in the 2025-26 school year, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at a board committee meeting last week.

“We have way more students that are just below being at grade level,” Vitti said during the meeting, adding they need different intervention than their peers who are behind two or more grade levels.

Though much of the settlement efforts have been aimed at early learners, the interventionists, tutoring, and other resources are available to students in all grades.

The analysis presented at the meeting included results from assessments administered by DPSCD. State standardized tests are not given to K-2 students.

The results showed that 27.3% of K-2 students were proficient last school year – up less than 1 percentage point from 2024-25, the first year the district used the settlement funds.

The percentage of proficient students in 2024-25 grew by 4.5 percentage points compared to 2023-24, according to district data.

There was also a noticeable drop – 6 percentage points – in students who showed the typical growth expected in one school year, with nearly 50.5% meeting that goal in 2025-26.

Detroit’s reading growth outpaces similar districts

MarGrady Research, the third-party firm that completed the analysis, compared the district’s results with 12 similar school systems across the county that use the same assessments. The analysis did not name the other districts.

The analysis showed about 31.4% of K-2 students in the comparison districts were on grade level in reading on the assessment in 2025-26. In DPSCD, 27.2% reached grade level.

But DPSCD students showed more growth than those in the comparison districts between 2022-23 and 2025-26. The share of Detroit students reading on grade level increased by 7.7 percentage points compared to an increase of 2.6 percentage points in the other districts.

This year is the last the district has to spend the settlement money from the 2016 federal “right to read” civil rights lawsuit, which was meant to help make up for years of state funding inequities. As the money is set to run out, board members are pushing for faster improvements in early literacy.

“Our kids cannot afford to continue to go backwards: 80% of our kids are not proficient,” said LaTrice McClendon, chair of the board, during the meeting.

The lawsuit settlement exposed years of underfunding in Detroit schools, which had led to deplorable conditions, including vermin infestation, overcrowded classrooms, and leaking sewage. The complaint said the unsafe and bleak condition of the schools denied children access to education.

The state settled the lawsuit in 2020 and allocated the money to DPSCD three years later. The district created a three-year plan to use the funding based on recommendations made by a task force and input from community meetings.

With the money, the district hired 267 additional literacy academic interventionists to work in small groups with K-2 students. It reduced K-3 class sizes, hired more teachers, and offered educator merit pay for schools and classrooms that met ambitious literacy goals.

Some of the funding also established newcomer centers for English language learners, created Parent Academy sessions to help families encourage their kids to read, and expanded after-school tutoring.

In recent years, there have been significant improvements in the district’s state standardized test scores compared to before the settlement. But DPSCD students remain far behind statewide averages, with only 14.1% of third graders at or above proficiency last spring.

The analysis of the results presented by district administrators last week showed the share of K-2 students reading at grade level increased by 8 percentage points over the last three school years.

The gains made by K-2 students are equivalent to 35 extra days of learning, according to the district.

The district focused on K-2 literacy to build solid foundations for students who start school far behind their peers in wealthier communities due to issues tied to systemic poverty and racism. The focus helped create a “culture of literacy,” Vitti said. Now, principals are visiting those classrooms, observing, and providing feedback to teachers more often, he added.

The additional interventionists have helped students who were far behind grade level catch up, according to the district.

But several obstacles are preventing faster progress, Vitti said.

In addition to the need for more individualized student support, Vitti said a large number of new K-2 students in DPSCD last year had undiagnosed disabilities with “extreme behaviors” and should have been in self-contained classrooms with more support. Some of those students, who remained in general education classrooms while waiting to be evaluated for special education services, disrupted instruction, Vitti added.

The district has made progress reducing the wait time for evaluations in recent years by increasing staff, but Vitti previously said many evaluations were still not done in the amount of time allowed by state and federal law. Some delays were caused by issues out of the district’s control, such as parents’ inflexible work schedules and difficulty reaching families, according to administrators.

Higher rates of chronic absenteeism – defined as a student missing 18 days or more during a typical 180-day school year – in early grades continues to be a challenge, said Vitti.

DPSCD students overall also showed more summer learning loss than students in other districts across the country taking the same assessments, according to the analysis.

In some of the districts included in the analysis, Vitti said students showed growth over the summer between kindergarten and first grade, while students in DPSCD had a 10 percentage point decline during the same period.

“They’re not being engaged at the same level, and the learning that happens regresses,” said Vitti of DPSCD students overall.

Vitti, board members consider summer school changes

The idea of mandatory summer school for students who are significantly behind grade level has been brought up more frequently by principals, said Vitti.

During the last board meeting, member Monique Bryant asked why students who are significantly behind grade level are not retained.

“I’m not quite ready to say universal retention,” Vitti said during last week’s committee meeting, adding that potential decisions on mandatory summer school should be made on a case-by-case basis for each student.

Board members also suggested paying students to attend summer school, expanding programs, and refocusing offerings to center academics instead of enrichment.

The district’s Summer Discovery program is a “fun, camp-like experience” with academic and enrichment activities for K-8 students, according to its website. In previous years, academics happened for a couple of hours in the morning, followed by enrichment activities in the afternoon, such as art, drama, and athletics.

Board members said they would like to see summer school be targeted to remediating struggling students.

Previous boards made similar suggestions, but those efforts failed or ended due to funding constraints.

“We need to find the money because we are in a crisis,” said McClendon.

Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 3b

2026-09-28T21:26:22+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

Dos hombres que crecieron en Humboldt Park, se graduaron de escuelas secundarias públicas de Chicago de admisión selectiva y se convirtieron en maestros a través de Teach for America vuelven a enfrentarse en la contienda para representar a un distrito que se extiende desde West Town hasta Belmont Cragin.

Ambos candidatos se identifican como progresistas. El actual miembro de la junta, Carlos Rivas Jr., ganó en 2024 con el 54% de los votos, frente al 46% de Jason Dónes. Rivas ha adoptado un enfoque más conservador en materia fiscal respecto del presupuesto escolar que el de su contrincante.

Rivas cuenta con el apoyo del Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois, que representa a miles de empleados de apoyo escolar de CPS y que, en los últimos años, ha tenido diferencias políticas con el sindicato de maestros. También cuenta con el respaldo de defensores de las escuelas charter y de algunos funcionarios locales y del condado del noroeste de Chicago. Además, cuenta con el respaldo de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

Dónes cuenta con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y de varios funcionarios electos del noroeste de la ciudad, entre ellos funcionarios locales y estatales y un miembro del Congreso. Ambos candidatos cuentan con el apoyo de donantes individuales.

Las escuelas del Distrito 3b enfrentan escasez de maestros y consejeros, impuestos a la propiedad más altos y una matrícula baja, en medio de una rápida gentrificación y cambios en los vecindarios. El distrito incluye una combinación de 32 escuelas bilingües de doble inmersión, charter y alternativas que atienden principalmente a estudiantes latinos.

Tanto Rivas como Dónes consideran importante proteger a los estudiantes inmigrantes de los agentes federales de inmigración, apoyar más viviendas asequibles y conseguir más recursos y alianzas comunitarias para las familias de CPS. Rivas dice que quiere menos interferencia del alcalde en la Junta y dejar de recurrir a préstamos que aumentarán el déficit presupuestario de CPS. En su lugar, quiere aprovechar alianzas con organizaciones de servicios sociales que puedan ofrecer recursos a los niños, como terapia o acceso a consejeros.

Dónes, quien es padre de estudiantes de CPS, busca aumentar la transparencia presupuestaria e impulsar soluciones creativas dentro del marco presupuestario existente. Además, dijo en nuestro cuestionario para la Junta de Educación de CPS que no aceptará donaciones de corporaciones ni de “grupos de interés privados financiados por multimillonarios y millonarios”.

Para tratar de evitar que se repita su derrota de 2024, Dónes busca tener mayor presencia en las zonas del distrito que no votaron por él en 2024 y cuenta con más voluntarios gracias a sus vínculos con United Neighbors of the 26th Ward, grupo progresista del vecindario.

Dónes ha enseñado y capacitado a maestros en varias escuelas de CPS, trabajó en el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Equidad Educativa de CPS y ayudó a redactar el primer conjunto de estándares de enseñanza culturalmente receptiva de Illinois. Desde 2023, Dónes trabaja para Beyond 100K, organización nacional sin fines de lucro que busca abordar la escasez de maestros de STEM (Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas), con especial énfasis en atraer a más maestros de color.

Sus dos hijos asisten a la Escuela Primaria Moos, donde forma parte del Consejo Escolar Local desde 2020.

Dónes es copresidente de United Neighbors, donde ha abogado por más viviendas asequibles. Ha sido voluntario con el Northwest Side Rapid Response Team para ayudar a proteger a las familias de los agentes federales de inmigración y, desde el año pasado, ha participado en labores de organización con funcionarios electos del noroeste de Chicago que buscan la reelección.

Dónes enfrentó dos impugnaciones a su candidatura, pero la Junta de Comisionados Electorales de Chicago falló a su favor. Según registros judiciales del Condado de Cook, una de las personas que impugnó su candidatura presentó en julio una apelación contra la decisión de la Junta Electoral.

Dónes dijo que su experiencia como organizador comunitario, como padre de estudiantes de CPS y como integrante de un Consejo Escolar Local lo distingue de Rivas, al igual que los respaldos y las donaciones que ha recibido de vecinos y grupos comunitarios locales.

Si resulta elegido, Dónes dijo que trabajaría para aumentar los recursos presupuestarios destinados a las escuelas del distrito, impulsar una mayor transparencia presupuestaria y proteger los empleos de CPS que brindan apoyo a estudiantes inmigrantes que enfrentan amenazas de agentes de inmigración.

“Los lectores quieren entender cómo nuestros defensores están siendo radicales y creativos en la manera en que [buscamos] ingresos, al mismo tiempo que somos inteligentes y cuidadosos con los gastos”, dijo. “No hay que elegir entre responsabilidad fiscal y una defensa radical de nuestras causas; hay una manera de hacer ambas cosas”.

Lee las respuestas completas de Dónes al cuestionario.

De cara a su campaña de reelección, Rivas dijo que “no es lo ideal” volver a enfrentarse a Dónes. Dijo que su historial de votación demuestra que es una voz para las familias de clase trabajadora, especialmente para aquellas preocupadas por los aumentos de los impuestos a la propiedad en medio de la gentrificación y de los cambios en las escuelas.

Fue uno de los seis miembros de la Junta de Educación que votaron en contra del presupuesto modificado de CPS, que fue aprobado por un estrecho margen este verano y que contaba con ingresos estatales que no estaban garantizados. Rivas dijo que ese voto “incomodó a algunos” funcionarios electos de la zona.

Según nuestro cuestionario para la Junta de Educación de CPS, entre sus prioridades están aumentar el apoyo a las escuelas de vecindario y mejorar el apoyo a los estudiantes de familias inmigrantes. También destaca la rendición de cuentas en materia presupuestaria.

“Creo que tenemos un déficit estructural tan grande en CPS que definitivamente no podemos seguir dependiendo de préstamos para salir de las dificultades en las que estamos”, destacó Rivas. “Tenemos que seguir pensando en el éxito del distrito a largo plazo, mientras continuamos abogando por más fondos de Springfield”.

Desde 2022, Rivas trabaja para la Oficina Civil de Responsabilidad Policial de la Ciudad, agencia de supervisión policial que investiga denuncias de mala conducta de agentes de policía, donde se desempeña como director de asuntos públicos. Ha enseñado en escuelas de CPS y en UIC College Prep, una escuela chárter; también ha trabajado como consejero de exalumnos, asistente de maestro y guardia de seguridad en CPS.

Rivas, quien es propietario de una vivienda y también arrendador, es además padre de crianza temporal de transición. Recibió a menores migrantes no acompañados que necesitan ser ubicados en hogares de habla hispana antes de ser entregados a un patrocinador adulto. Dijo que esa experiencia ha influido en su perspectiva sobre la importancia de los programas bilingües de doble inmersión en las escuelas, la necesidad de fortalecer las políticas para proteger a las familias inmigrantes y el apoyo a los directores escolares y consejeros para que puedan conseguir más recursos para los estudiantes.

También quiere mejorar el apoyo a los estudiantes de familias inmigrantes y fortalecer las políticas para protegerlos de los agentes federales.

“Tengo una amplia variedad de experiencias en todo nuestro distrito que me definen como alguien reflexivo y que considera todos los puntos de vista cuando pensamos en las decisiones que tenemos que tomar para los niños y las familias de nuestro distrito”, aseguró Rivas. “Soy independiente y no recibo órdenes de ningún grupo de interés especial, a diferencia de lo que hemos visto con los miembros nombrados por el [alcalde]”.

Lee las respuestas completas de Rivas al cuestionario.

Ariel Parrella-Aureli es una reportera que cubre Logan Square, Humboldt Park y Avondale para Block Club Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Ariel en ariel@blockclubchi.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 3a

2026-09-28T21:25:56+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

Un candidato nuevo que está formando una coalición de apoyo con donantes privados y defensores de las escuelas charter se enfrenta a una veterana activista comunitaria con vínculos con el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y con funcionarios electos del noroeste de la ciudad en la contienda por representar al Distrito 3a.

La actual miembro de la Junta, Norma Ríos Sierra, organizadora comunitaria de Logan Square nombrada a la Junta de Educación en 2024 por el alcalde Brandon Johnson, espera conservar su puesto frente a Peter Gonzáles, un abogado y tutor.

Las escuelas del Distrito 3a enfrentan una escasez de maestros, recortes en los programas de arte, cierres de escuelas chárter y dificultades para acceder a servicios de salud mental. El distrito del noroeste de Chicago cuenta con una combinación de 23 escuelas bilingües de doble inmersión, chárter y alternativas que atienden principalmente a estudiantes latinos.

Aunque ambos candidatos tienen posturas similares sobre aumentar los fondos para CPS y apoyar a las familias inmigrantes, cuentan con respaldos distintos. Ríos Sierra tiene el respaldo del CTU y del Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois, que representa a miles de empleados de apoyo de CPS y que en los últimos años ha tenido diferencias políticas con el sindicato de maestros. Es una de las cuatro candidatas que han recibido el respaldo de ambos sindicatos.

Gonzáles cuenta con el apoyo de Illinois Network of Charter Schools, otro grupo que promueve la elección de escuelas, y de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

Gonzáles promueve salarios equitativos para los maestros que puedan contribuir a mejorar los resultados de los estudiantes en los exámenes y ampliar sus oportunidades, por ejemplo, fortaleciendo las vías hacia carreras en los oficios y ofreciendo más opciones para elegir escuelas. Ríos Sierra, por su parte, quiere que haya más recursos de salud mental para los estudiantes y más programas de arte y actividades extracurriculares en las escuelas de vecindario.

Ríos Sierra superó dos impugnaciones para permanecer en la boleta electoral este otoño. Formó parte de un grupo de trabajo encargado de seleccionar a Macquline King, la nueva directora ejecutiva de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, y votó a favor del presupuesto más reciente de CPS, que dependía de recibir $150 millones adicionales en fondos estatales.

Ha votado a favor de proteger a los estudiantes inmigrantes de las autoridades federales y de apoyar la creación de un plan de transición sostenible para las familias afectadas por el cierre de escuelas charter, como las escuelas Aspira y Acero.

Nacida en la Ciudad de México y criada en Logan Square, Rios Sierra pasó años organizando a la comunidad a través de la organización sin fines de lucro Palenque LSNA. Trabajó con estudiantes, familias y maestros en programas de arte y eventos, luchó por viviendas asequibles y por reformas migratorias locales, y organizó talleres de bienestar para más de 200 padres mentores. Es integrante de Northwest Side Rapid Response Network; se graduó de CPS y anteriormente formó parte del Consejo Escolar Local de la Escuela Primaria Logan Square.

Como madre soltera de un adolescente que asiste a CPS, dijo que su compromiso con la comunidad y su trayectoria demuestran que está presente para representar a los estudiantes y a las familias del vecindario que quieren escuelas con financiamiento completo y más apoyo en salud mental para los jóvenes.

“Definitivamente quiero seguir defendiendo las necesidades de nuestras familias inmigrantes, y me preocupa genuinamente la salud mental y el bienestar de nuestros estudiantes”, dijo.

Destacó que está comprometida a establecer relaciones que generen ingresos adicionales para las escuelas, mejoren el acceso a servicios de salud mental y apoyen más programas de arte y actividades extracurriculares.

Lee las respuestas completas de Ríos Sierra al cuestionario.

Con experiencia en presupuestos, economía y derecho, Gonzales destacó que sus habilidades son distintas a las de su oponente y que demuestran que está “dispuesto a darlo todo” para defender a las familias inmigrantes y de clase trabajadora.

“Sé lo que significa enfrentar problemas presupuestarios realmente difíciles”, dijo. “Sé lo que significa lidiar con problemas legales complejos… cuando se trata de hacer frente a ICE y al [presidente] Donald Trump. Realmente sé lo que significa defender a las personas ante la corte”.

Originario de Aurora, Gonzales vive con su esposa y su hijo de 2 años, a quien planea inscribir en una escuela de CPS. Vive en Avondale desde 2019.

Gonzales, asesor legal sénior de la Secretaría de Estado de Illinois, fue el primero de su familia en asistir a la universidad. Ha trabajado como tutor voluntario con Reach Out Community Center en La Villita y con Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers en Little Italy. También forma parte de la junta del Institute of Latino Studies de la Universidad de Notre Dame, que ofrece a estudiantes universitarios latinos oportunidades de voluntariado en bufetes de abogados de Chicago enfocados en los derechos de los inmigrantes.

Gonzales quiere representar a la zona para lograr una distribución más equitativa del presupuesto del distrito entre las escuelas y promover salarios equitativos para el personal, fondos para programas después de clases y recursos para mejorar los resultados académicos de los estudiantes. También quiere lograr mayor transparencia y responsabilidad fiscal en CPS, promover más vías dentro de CPS que preparen a los estudiantes para carreras en los oficios y proteger a los estudiantes inmigrantes de los agentes federales de inmigración, tanto en las aulas como en los tribunales.

“Al final del día, se trata simplemente de asegurarnos de que cada niño reciba la mejor educación posible y de proteger a nuestra comunidad”, destacó González.

Lee las respuestas completas de Gonzáles al cuestionario.

Ariel Parrella-Aureli es una reportera que cubre Logan Square, Humboldt Park y Avondale para Block Club Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Ariel en ariel@blockclubchi.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 2b

2026-09-28T21:25:35+00:00

Leer en inglés. Leer en chino.

Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

Una maestra jubilada de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, nombrada para la Junta de Educación por el alcalde, se enfrenta a una exmaestra de educación especial preocupada por la carga de deuda del distrito escolar y a un científico de datos enfocado en conseguir más fondos de la legislatura de Illinois.

La actual miembro de la Junta, Debby Pope, cuenta con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU), Kyna Lenhof tiene el respaldo de Common Ground Collective, un grupo contrario al CTU, y Daniel Basco se ha presentado como “una voz firmemente independiente”.

El Distrito 2b es una de las zonas de mayor diversidad cultural de Chicago y alberga 19 escuelas públicas. Los tres candidatos que compiten para representar al distrito incluyeron entre sus principales prioridades garantizar que los salones de clase cuenten con fondos y recursos adecuados. Sin embargo, tienen opiniones distintas sobre cómo obtener ese financiamiento.

Pope dijo que apoya aumentar los fondos para las escuelas mediante impuestos a las personas de mayores ingresos, mientras que Basco dijo que quiere que CPS reciba más fondos del estado. Lenhof, por su parte, dijo que quiere reducir la dependencia del distrito de préstamos con altas tasas de interés.

Pope fue nombrada a la Junta por el alcalde Brandon Johnson en 2024 después de la renuncia masiva del primer grupo de miembros que había nombrado, en medio de tensiones con el exdirector ejecutivo de CPS Pedro Martínez.

Pope recibió el respaldo del poderoso sindicato de maestros, mientras que Lenhof recibió el respaldo de The Urban Center, una organización política centrista que apoya a las escuelas charter y promueve la elección de escuelas tanto públicas como privadas. Lenhof también recibió el respaldo de Common Ground Collective, que recibe gran parte de su financiamiento del multimillonario Michael Sacks y afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

A principios de este verano, Common Ground publicó un anuncio en contra de Pope por votar a favor de un plan presupuestario de CPS que supone que el distrito recibirá $150 millones más en fondos estatales de lo proyectado.

El día antes de la votación, Lenhof también publicó una declaración en la que criticó a Pope.

“Nuestra actual miembro de la Junta, nombrada por el alcalde Brandon Johnson, ha apoyado continuamente préstamos con altas tasas de interés que representan una carga para los contribuyentes y debilitan el futuro financiero de CPS”, escribió Lenhof.

Tanto Pope como Lenhof han destacado su experiencia trabajando en el salón de clases, mientras que Basco se ha presentado como un candidato independiente y ha resaltado su trabajo de investigación sobre políticas educativas.

Pope, quien creció en Nueva York, ha vivido en Chicago durante más de 50 años y en Andersonville durante casi 30.

Fue maestra de secundaria durante casi 20 de esos años, principalmente como maestra bilingüe de estudios sociales. Después de retirarse de la enseñanza, Pope trabajó en el CTU durante poco más de una década en distintos puestos.

Durante su primer periodo en la Junta de Educación, Pope defendió firmemente la educación bilingüe y de doble inmersión, una postura influida por sus experiencias en el aula. Cuando comenzó su carrera en Benito Juárez Community Academy High School, muchos de sus estudiantes eran inmigrantes recién llegados de México. En ese momento, Pope no hablaba español con fluidez, pero dijo que todas las noches, después del trabajo, leía un diccionario de español para mejorar su dominio del idioma.

“Veía la escuela como una oportunidad para ayudar a los niños que habían llegado como inmigrantes a encontrar su lugar en Estados Unidos”, dijo.

Las dos hijas de Pope también asistieron a escuelas de CPS y se graduaron de Whitney Young Magnet High School mientras ella enseñaba en Gage Park High School. Actualmente, su nieta asiste a Inter-American Magnet School, una escuela bilingüe de doble inmersión en Lakeview.

“Era doloroso ver a diario el contraste entre lo que estaba disponible para mis hijas y lo que estaba disponible para mis estudiantes”, dijo Pope. “Una de mis hijas tomó cuatro clases de arte diferentes, y la otra estaba en el coro de conciertos, y las dos formaban parte del equipo de natación. Gage Park no tenía esas cosas y yo quería que todos los niños tuvieran esas oportunidades”.

Pope dijo que es importante garantizar que los fondos se distribuyan de manera equitativa. Le gustaría que hubiera un impuesto estatal sobre la renta con tasas progresivas y que se eliminaran los vacíos fiscales para las corporaciones, de manera que las personas de mayores ingresos contribuyan más a la educación pública.

Hasta mediados de septiembre, el principal donante de Pope era el brazo político del CTU.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Pope.

Lenhof se mudó a Chicago hace 25 años para tomar clases de improvisación en The Second City. Mientras estaba allí, comenzó a trabajar en Easterseals Academy, escuela terapéutica diurna para estudiantes con autismo, y más tarde trabajó como maestra de educación especial en Scammon Elementary School, en Kilbourn Park.

“Me inspiré a postularme porque realmente creo que todos los niños deben tener acceso a una educación segura, equitativa y que les permita disfrutar el aprendizaje”, dijo Lenhof, quien vive en Bowmanville desde hace 13 años.

Actualmente trabaja para KMM Consulting, una firma de estrategia y recaudación de fondos políticos que ayuda a candidatos locales y organizaciones sin fines de lucro a organizar eventos y recaudar fondos. También se desempeña como tesorera de los Demócratas del Distrito 40. Además, continúa actuando y presenta un espectáculo de variedades en Andersonville.

Si resulta elegida, Lenhof dijo que le gustaría que CPS recibiera más fondos para educación especial, garantizar que todos los educadores cumplan con los programas de educación individualizados, conocidos como IEP, y brindar el apoyo adecuado a los maestros de educación especial.

“Mis prioridades realmente se reducen a esto: ¿Cómo hacemos lo correcto para nuestras poblaciones más vulnerables?”, dijo Lenhof.

También dijo que impulsaría un presupuesto que reduzca al máximo los préstamos del distrito y evite “más préstamos con altas tasas de interés en lugar de destinar ese dinero directamente al salón de clases”. Cualquier fondo disponible debe distribuirse de manera equitativa en todo el distrito, dijo.

Hasta mediados de septiembre, los dos mayores donantes de Lenhof entre los comités de acción política eran Common Ground Collective PAC e INCS Action PAC, un grupo estatal enfocado en promover escuelas charter financiadas con fondos públicos y administradas de manera independiente.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Lenhof.

Basco, originario de Texas, estudió análisis de políticas públicas en Northwestern University. Trabajó en ciencia de datos y obtuvo un doctorado en análisis de políticas públicas de RAND School of Public Policy en California antes de mudarse a Andersonville hace cinco años.

Durante la administración de Obama, Basco asesoró al Departamento de Educación de Estados Unidos sobre políticas relacionadas con el financiamiento de la educación científica y trabajó con colegios comunitarios en Texas para evaluar la eficacia de sus cursos.

En su puesto actual en Kindsight, empresa que proporciona herramientas de recaudación de fondos a organizaciones de los sectores educativo, sin fines de lucro y de atención médica, desarrolla tecnología para ayudar a organizaciones sin fines de lucro a encontrar donantes.

“Mi enfoque siempre es: ‘¿Cómo recopilamos la mayor cantidad de datos posible?, ¿Cómo analizamos el problema desde todos los ángulos?’”, dijo Basco.

Si resulta elegido, Basco dijo que abogaría por más fondos estatales e impulsaría presupuestos de CPS que abarquen varios años para dar mayor estabilidad a los estudiantes y sus familias.

“Lo que he escuchado de los padres es que la incertidumbre en torno al presupuesto significa incertidumbre sobre los programas, las actividades después de clases y los programas para aprender inglés”, dijo Basco.

Basco, quien trabaja profesionalmente con inteligencia artificial (IA), también dijo que CPS necesita reglas y protecciones más estrictas para el uso de la IA. Aunque la inteligencia artificial puede ser una herramienta para apoyar el aprendizaje, Basco dijo que el distrito debe garantizar la protección de los datos y la privacidad de los estudiantes.

“Este campo está evolucionando muy rápido, así que necesitamos personas que estén al día con lo que está pasando para ayudar a definir las políticas”, aseguró Basco.

Basco ha destacado su independencia. En su sitio web, dice que “no le debe lealtad a ninguna maquinaria política”.

Basco dijo que ser un candidato independiente significa tener “empatía con todos los sectores”.

“Voy a analizar los temas desde todos los niveles y escucharé a todos para tratar de encontrar posibles soluciones”, dijo Basco.

Hasta mediados de septiembre, Basco había donado $7,000 a su propia campaña y no había reportado ninguna otra donación.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Basco.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 1b

2026-09-28T21:24:17+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

Las dos mujeres que compiten para representar al noroeste de Chicago no son ajenas a la política: una se postuló para la Junta de Educación en 2024 y la otra ha dirigido campañas o trabajado para otros funcionarios electos durante más de 15 años.

Michelle Pierre perdió por un estrecho margen en 2024, la primera vez que se postuló a un cargo público, tras pasar más de 25 años trabajando en educación como maestra, directora escolar, administradora de distrito y asesora de liderazgo. Claudia Peralta se presenta por primera vez como candidata, pero ha trabajado con varios políticos del noroeste de Chicago, entre ellos la representante federal Delia Ramírez.

El Distrito 1b alberga 20 escuelas públicas, una de las cifras más bajas entre todos los distritos electorales de la Junta de Educación. Las familias de esta zona eligen las escuelas primarias de sus vecindarios en mayor proporción que las familias de otras partes de la ciudad.

Esta contienda no se centra tanto en políticas específicas, sino en distintas estrategias sobre cómo ejercer el cargo de miembro de la Junta de Educación de Chicago.

Pierre se guía por las métricas y evalúa las decisiones financieras del distrito en función de los beneficios que las inversiones generan para mejorar los resultados académicos de los estudiantes. Peralta se apoya en su experiencia política y en sus relaciones dentro del gobierno para conseguir los recursos que las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago necesitan para que los estudiantes prosperen. En última instancia, los votantes del Distrito 1b decidirán cuál de estos estilos quieren que tenga prioridad.

La ganadora reemplazará a Jennifer Custer, quien ha ocupado el cargo durante los últimos dos años y se postuló para la presidencia de la Junta de Educación antes de retirarse de la contienda en agosto.

Peralta ha conocido el funcionamiento interno de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago desde varias perspectivas, incluida la de haber sido ella misma estudiante de CPS.

Peralta se mudó de Ecuador a Chicago cuando tenía 12 años. Pasó su adolescencia en Logan Square y se graduó de Prosser Career Academy en Belmont Cragin. En medio de la intensificación de las medidas de control migratorio de la administración de Trump, Peralta dijo que puede aportar a la Junta de Educación su experiencia de primera mano como estudiante inmigrante que estaba aprendiendo inglés.

“Estoy aprendiendo que el momento que vivimos exige que demos un paso al frente y enfrentemos nuestros miedos”, comentó. “Estoy lista para luchar y asegurar que nuestros niños reciban los recursos que merecen”.

Uno de esos temores era postularse a un cargo público. Durante casi una década, Peralta ha trabajado entre bambalinas en campañas y en la defensa de causas. Actualmente se desempeña como directora de distrito de la representante federal Delia Ramírez. Antes de eso, fue jefa de personal de la representante estatal Lindsey LaPointe y coordinó programas para la Coalición de Illinois por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes y Refugiados (ICIRR). Los distritos de Ramírez y LaPointe incluyen partes del noroeste de Chicago. Como madre, Peralta formó parte del Consejo Escolar Local de la Escuela Primaria Carl Von Linné.

Entre las habilidades que ha adquirido en esos cargos, Peralta dijo que saber cómo desenvolverse entre los distintos niveles de gobierno es una ventaja importante, especialmente cuando se trata de financiamiento.

Peralta sostiene firmemente que resolver el déficit presupuestario de CPS no debe hacerse a costa del sustento de los educadores, una causa defendida por el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y el Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois. Ambas organizaciones han respaldado a Peralta y, hasta mediados de septiembre, SEIU había contribuido a su campaña. También ha recibido contribuciones individuales mediante eventos como su recaudación de fondos durante la final de la Copa Mundial en julio, a la que asistieron unas 50 personas.

“La cantidad de apoyo demuestra que he formado parte de la comunidad durante muchos años”, dijo Peralta. “La gente sabe lo que valgo”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Peralta.

Si su estrecha derrota en las elecciones de la Junta de Educación de 2024 confirmó algo, dijo Pierre, fue que su plataforma de campaña tuvo eco entre una gran parte de los votantes. Esta vez, está tratando de aprovechar ese impulso para difundir su mensaje con mayor rapidez y obtener más apoyo de líderes locales.

“Pensé que no era una contienda política. Pensé que era simplemente la Junta de Educación de Chicago”, dijo Pierre sobre la primera vez que se postuló. “Después aprendí muy rápido que todo es muy político”.

Pierre se considera una candidata fuera de las divisiones partidistas. Sin embargo, su campaña también cuenta con el apoyo de tres grupos de interés. Uno es Illinois Network of Charter Schools, que aboga por las escuelas charter financiadas con fondos públicos pero administradas de manera independiente. Otro es The Urban Center, una organización política centrista que promueve la elección de escuelas, tanto públicas como privadas. El tercero es Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks, que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”. Pierre cuenta con el respaldo tanto de The Urban Center como de Common Ground Collective.

Esos objetivos forman parte de su mensaje general: los niños de Chicago merecen una educación de alta calidad, ya sea en escuelas de vecindario, escuelas chárter o programas magnet.

Pierre señala su amplia trayectoria en educación como prueba de que puede hacer el trabajo.

Trabajó como maestra y directora escolar durante varios años en Nueva York y Washington, D.C., antes de desempeñarse durante seis años como directora académica del Distrito Escolar Metropolitano de Cleveland. Desde que se mudó a Chicago hace casi una década, Pierre ha ocupado un puesto de liderazgo en LEARN Charter Network y actualmente ocupa un cargo de alto nivel en New Leaders, organización que ofrece desarrollo profesional para líderes del sector educativo.

Pero Pierre destacó que sus hijos son su principal motivación para postularse. Como madre de familia, formó parte del Consejo Escolar Local de la Escuela Primaria Ogden. Ahora, su hija menor se graduó recientemente de Chicago High School for the Arts.

“Luché por ella todos los días”, aseguró Pierre a sus simpatizantes durante el lanzamiento de su campaña en Portage Park. “Creo en los 300,000 niños y lucharé por ellos todos los días”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Pierre.

Makiya Seminera es una reportera que cubre cómo los gobiernos estatal y federal afectan la educación en Chicago y en todo Illinois. Puedes comunicarte con Makiya en mseminera@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 1a

2026-09-28T21:21:52+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

Una policía retirada de Chicago, aliada de dos concejales locales, busca desplazar a un veterano defensor del desarrollo comunitario, quien tiene la ventaja de ser titular, ya que el alcalde lo nombró para representar al extremo noroeste de la ciudad.

Ed Bannon espera superar el desafío de Margie Luczak con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU) y del Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios (SEIU), que representa al personal de apoyo escolar. Luczak, por su parte, ha conseguido el respaldo de grupos de interés que favorecen el proceso de opción escolar y las escuelas charter.

Aunque las elecciones de la Junta de Educación no son partidistas, hay corrientes políticas que influyen en las decisiones de los votantes sobre qué candidato se identifica más con sus valores. En el extremo noroeste de la ciudad, los votantes han sido más receptivos a candidatos conservadores que en gran parte de Chicago y podrían mostrarse más favorables a una plataforma “anti-establacimiento”. Sin embargo, esta contienda abarca un conjunto de temas mucho más limitado que una campaña para el Congreso o la presidencia, lo que podría revelar diferencias de opinión específicamente en torno a la educación.

El extremo noroeste de Chicago alberga 22 escuelas que tienen una proporción mayor de estudiantes blancos que las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS) en su conjunto, aunque son más diversas que la población que vota en la zona. Las familias de esta área eligen las escuelas públicas de sus vecindarios con mayor frecuencia que las de otras partes de la ciudad.

Es una de las pocas zonas de Chicago que se inclinaron a favor del presidente Donald Trump en las elecciones de 2024. Y en 2023, muchos votantes de esta zona eligieron al exdirector ejecutivo de CPS Paul Vallas por encima del alcalde Brandon Johnson.

Aunque Bannon fue nombrado por Johnson, no siempre ha coincidido con él. El ejemplo más notable ocurrió el año pasado, cuando votó a favor del plan presupuestario de CPS que otros miembros nombrados por Johnson intentaban bloquear. El historial de Bannon le ha valido el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y del Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois.

Los votantes que buscan un cambio de liderazgo podrían optar por Luczak, quien sirvió en el Departamento de Policía de Chicago por más de 25 años. En muchos sentidos, su campaña representa un contraste con la candidatura de Bannon, respaldada por sindicatos. Luczak dice con orgullo que no es un “títere del CTU” y cuenta con el apoyo de las contribuciones de Illinois Network of Charter Schools y The Urban Center, organización que promueve un liderazgo centrista y la elección de escuelas, incluidas las escuelas privadas. Sin embargo, tiene poca experiencia directa en el ámbito educativo.

Un martes por la noche, en el Copernicus Center de Jefferson Park, un pequeño grupo de personas —entre ellas algunos adolescentes, una maestra, una madre con su hijo y el senador estatal Robert Martwick— entró en silencio a un amplio salón. Era la noche anterior a que las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago presentaran su propuesta de presupuesto, y Ed Bannon organizaba una sesión informativa para explicar las finanzas del distrito y escuchar las inquietudes de los miembros de la comunidad. Hasta donde él sabía, era el único miembro de la Junta que estaba realizando una reunión de este tipo.

Esa participación comunitaria es fundamental por la manera en que Bannon concibe su papel como miembro de la Junta de Educación.

“No conozco otra manera de hacer campaña que no sea estar presente, hablar con la gente y tratar de demostrar que mi trayectoria es una que ayudará a mejorar CPS”, dijo Bannon.

La participación de Bannon en el noroeste de Chicago se remonta a varias décadas. Fue director ejecutivo de Six Corners Association, coordinó programas para atraer y retener negocios en el Distrito 45 y se postuló como concejal en 2023. El concejal titular Nick Sposato lo derrotó.

También formó parte durante una década del Consejo Escolar Local de la Escuela Primaria Dever, donde estudiaron sus hijos. Bannon dijo que su larga trayectoria de participación en CPS contribuyó a que Johnson lo nombrara miembro de la Junta.

“La gente va a decir lo que quiera sobre cómo el hecho de que me hayan nombrado influye en mí como miembro de la Junta”, dijo Bannon. “Lo único que puedo decir es que haría todas esas cosas independientemente de (haber) sido nombrado o elegido”.

Bannon dijo que conversar con sus electores es la única manera de aclarar cualquier idea preconcebida sobre sus lealtades. Cuando Lisa Reed, maestra de Steinmetz College Prep, expresó sus frustraciones con la Junta durante la sesión informativa sobre el presupuesto que Bannon realizó en julio, él no evadió sus preguntas. Al contrario, después de la reunión se apartó con ella para escuchar personalmente sus inquietudes.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Bannon.

Si no fuera por el grupo de asistentes que vestían camisetas de color amarillo brillante con el nombre de Margie Luczak, el evento de recaudación de fondos de la candidata en Tommy’s en la Higgins podría haber parecido una gran reunión de viejos amigos.

La parte trasera del bar de Norwood Park estaba llena de conversaciones mientras Luczak recorría el lugar saludando a los asistentes, entre ellos Reed, la maestra que había asistido a la sesión informativa sobre el presupuesto de Bannon la noche anterior. La asistencia —unas 40 personas— fue una grata sorpresa para Luczak, quien nunca antes se había postulado a un cargo público.

Luczak creció en West Lawn, en el suroeste de Chicago, y se graduó de Curie High School a finales de la década de 1980. Pasó casi 30 años como policía de Chicago y trabajó en varias unidades, entre ellas narcóticos y licencias.

Aunque Luczak no tiene hijos, dijo que conoce el sistema escolar a través de las experiencias de amigos cuyos hijos asisten a CPS y desde su propia perspectiva como contribuyente. Durante el último año, Luczak dijo que asistió a reuniones organizadas por The Urban Center y aprendió más sobre el funcionamiento del distrito.

“No creo que CPS necesite que simplemente le den más dinero”, dijo Luczak. “Creo que primero tienen que solucionar los problemas que ya existen”.

Cuando Luczak se jubiló del Departamento de Policía de Chicago en enero, decidió que era momento de servir a su comunidad de una manera diferente. Entre sus prioridades están reducir los impuestos a la propiedad y devolver a las escuelas a los oficiales de recursos escolares, una iniciativa que, según ella, permitiría que los estudiantes tuvieran experiencias positivas con los agentes de policía.

Luczak reconoce que no tiene mucha experiencia directa en educación, pero considera que su extensa carrera policial le ha dado el “sentido común” necesario para ser miembro de la Junta de Educación.

“Apagué muchos incendios, así que aprendí a escuchar”, destacó Luczak. “Como miembro de la Junta de Educación de Chicago, escucharé a mi comunidad y cuáles son sus necesidades”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Luczak.

Makiya Seminera es una reportera que cubre cómo los gobiernos estatal y federal afectan la educación en Chicago y en todo Illinois. Puedes comunicarte con Makiya en mseminera@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 4a

2026-09-28T21:18:46+00:00

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Este reportaje se elaboró y publicó en colaboración con WBEZ, el Chicago Sun-Times y Block Club Chicago, redacción sin fines de lucro que cubre los diversos vecindarios de Chicago. Mantente informado a través del boletín de Chalkbeat Chicago, el boletín sobre educación de WBEZ y el Sun-Times, y los boletines de Block Club Chicago.

En la contienda de este distrito del norte de Chicago, una educadora jubilada nombrada a la actual Junta de Educación se enfrenta a dos contrincantes que dicen que los miembros de la Junta han fallado en materia de responsabilidad fiscal y en establecer metas ambiciosas para las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago.

Karen Zaccor, una veterana maestra y defensora comunitaria de Uptown que fue nombrada a la Junta de Educación por el alcalde en 2024, después de quedar en segundo lugar entre seis candidatos, se enfrentará a Ellen Sherratt, experta en reclutamiento y retención de maestros, y a Ángel Álvarez, investigador de células madre.

La zona a lo largo de la orilla norte del lago alberga 15 escuelas, menos que en casi cualquier otro distrito de la Junta de Educación. Entre ellas hay escuelas de vecindario con alto rendimiento académico, escuelas magnet populares y una escuela secundaria alternativa chárter.

Alrededor del 57% de los estudiantes asiste a la escuela primaria de su vecindario, pero ese porcentaje es mucho menor en la secundaria. Las escuelas del distrito atraen a una población estudiantil diversa: de sus 8,400 estudiantes de CPS el ciclo escolar pasado, alrededor del 37% eran latinos, casi el 26% blancos, el 23% negros y cerca del 8% asiáticos.

En las elecciones de la Junta de Educación de 2024, lo que ahora es el Distrito 4a formaba parte de un Distrito 4 más grande. La miembro de la Junta Ellen Rosenfeld superó a cinco contrincantes, más que en cualquier otra contienda de ese año. Este año, Rosenfeld se postula sin oposición en el vecino Distrito 4b.

Zaccor ha votado de manera constante junto a un bloque mayoritario de miembros de la Junta nombrados por el alcalde Brandon Johnson o elegidos con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago, el antiguo empleador y aliado cercano de Johnson. Sus prioridades también coinciden con las del sindicato, que ha respaldado a Zaccor. Entre ellas están impulsar un impuesto a los multimillonarios u otras nuevas fuentes progresivas de ingresos estatales para aumentar los fondos destinados a las escuelas y ampliar el programa de Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables, una colaboración entre CPS y el CTU en la que escuelas con grandes necesidades reciben $500,000 adicionales cada año para asociarse con organizaciones locales sin fines de lucro y ampliar sus servicios.

Sus contrincantes, Sherratt y Álvarez, sostienen que el distrito debe hacer más para enfrentar el creciente déficit que solo presionar al estado para obtener más fondos, entre otras cosas, elaborar el presupuesto de manera más cuidadosa y eliminar gastos innecesarios.

Sherratt ha recibido respaldos y apoyo financiero del Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois, que representa al personal de apoyo y que en los últimos años ha tenido diferencias políticas con el sindicato de maestros, así como de otros grupos que se oponen al CTU. Entre ellos se encuentra Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”. Además, dos grupos que promueven la elección de escuelas y las escuelas charter apoyan su campaña.

Sherratt dijo que aportaría a la Junta su experiencia en la calidad de los maestros e impulsaría el establecimiento de metas ambiciosas para el desempeño académico de los estudiantes.

Álvarez, quien dirige un consejo asesor de familias para la Oficina para Estudiantes con Discapacidades del distrito, dijo que defendería servicios de educación especial que respondan mejor a las necesidades de los estudiantes y protegería a las familias de aumentos en los impuestos a la propiedad.

Sherratt, quien lleva años estudiando el reclutamiento y la retención de maestros, dice que la Junta de Educación necesita más expertos que entiendan las tendencias educativas a nivel nacional. Dijo que sería una voz independiente, sin compromisos con el CTU ni con otros grupos de interés.

“Aporto una amplia y profunda experiencia de distintas partes del país”, comentó.

Sherratt dijo que ha dedicado su carrera a investigar cómo las escuelas pueden contratar y retener a excelentes maestros y a asesorar a distritos escolares, estados y al gobierno federal. Ha trabajado en una iniciativa nacional para aumentar los salarios de los maestros y en esfuerzos en Illinois para abordar la escasez de educadores. Actualmente dirige Common Cents Education, una firma de consultoría sobre la calidad de los maestros que fundó para trabajar con los distritos en asuntos relacionados con su personal. La hija de Sherratt asiste a una escuela privada, algo que ella describió como una “decisión personal que tomamos para nuestra familia”, al tiempo que señaló su trayectoria de apoyo a las escuelas públicas.

Sherratt dijo que quiere que la ciudad y el distrito establezcan una serie de “metas muy ambiciosas” para alcanzar antes del bicentenario de Chicago en 2037, como mejorar significativamente el desempeño en matemáticas. Dijo que buscaría una amplia participación para definir esas metas, incluida la de los estudiantes, para quienes organizaría horarios especiales de atención después de clases.

“Deberíamos ser más ambiciosos y lograr que tanto el proceso como las metas sean algo de lo que la ciudad de Chicago realmente pueda sentirse orgullosa”, dijo Sherratt.

También dijo que la Junta debería abogar por más fondos estatales, pero rechazó lo que describió como tácticas de presión excesiva, como aprobar el presupuesto reciente con “dinero fantasma” que la Junta está presionando al estado para que apruebe.

“Me imagino que para muchos en Springfield se siente como si los estuvieran presionando”, comentó.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Sherratt.

Zaccor representa uno de los distritos más prósperos de la ciudad, donde se encuentran algunas de las escuelas magnet más destacadas. Sin embargo, como miembro de la Junta, se ha enfocado en fortalecer las escuelas de vecindario con altos niveles de pobreza y abordar las desigualdades que persisten.

Zaccor dijo que no ve ninguna contradicción. En su vecindario de Uptown hay escuelas con grandes necesidades, como Uplift Community High School, donde enseñó durante años. Formó parte de un grupo de padres y defensores comunitarios que fundaron Uplift en 2005. Además, Zaccor dijo que familias y estudiantes de toda la ciudad le han expresado muchas de las mismas preocupaciones, entre ellas la disponibilidad de programas después de clases, la cantidad de tiempo frente a las pantallas en las escuelas y la calidad de la comida en las cafeterías.

“Nunca voy a creer que exigir un sistema verdaderamente equitativo sea algo incorrecto”, dijo.

Zaccor ha defendido durante muchos años una Junta de Educación electa y anteriormente, formó parte de un Consejo Escolar Local. Su hija se graduó de Whitney Young Magnet High School, una escuela de admisión selectiva de CPS. Aseguró que se siente orgullosa de su trabajo en la Junta hasta ahora, en particular de sus esfuerzos por establecer un proceso más riguroso para renovar y supervisar las escuelas charter.

Zaccor apoya firmemente la continuación de la expansión del programa de Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables, que recientemente ha enfrentado cuestionamientos sobre dificultades en su implementación y la limitada evidencia de mejoras en los resultados de los estudiantes. El programa es “un trabajo en proceso”, dijo, pero el distrito ha aprendido lecciones que puede aplicar a las escuelas que lo incorporaron recientemente.

Entre sus otras prioridades están seguir presionando al estado para obtener más fondos, impulsar escuelas más ecológicas y mejorar la comida de las cafeterías. Se opone al cierre de escuelas y sostiene que, en lugar de cerrarlas, el distrito debería invertir más para revitalizar las escuelas con baja matrícula.

“Primero tenemos que invertir y ver qué diferencia puede hacer”, dijo.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Zaccor.

Álvarez conoce de primera mano cómo las decisiones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago pueden afectar la vida de las personas. Hace cuatro años, su hija, quien tiene una discapacidad visual, perdió todo el primer semestre de tercer grado en Decatur Elementary School porque no contaba con transporte. Álvarez pasó largas horas presionando a los funcionarios del distrito encargados de las rutas de los autobuses escolares y hablando ante la Junta de Educación, que tiene la autoridad para aprobar los contratos con las empresas de transporte. Incluso presentó una queja ante el estado y compartió la experiencia de su familia con medios de comunicación nacionales.

Actualmente dirige un consejo asesor de familias para la Oficina para Estudiantes con Discapacidades de CPS, donde ayuda a las familias a resolver problemas relacionados con el transporte, el personal de educación especial y otros servicios.

“En CPS existe una enorme desconexión entre la teoría y la práctica, entre lo que está escrito y lo que las familias realmente viven”, comentó Álvarez, quien anteriormente formó parte de un Consejo Escolar Local. Sobre su experiencia tratando de resolver el problema del transporte, agregó: “Tengo un doctorado y aun así fue un proceso complicado para mí”.

Álvarez es científico y profesor asistente en Northwestern University, además de director del Stem Cell Core. También ha promovido la educación de estudiantes con altas capacidades y ha enseñado ciencias a estudiantes de secundaria a través de Hispanic Math and Science Education Initiative.

Si resulta electo, impulsaría que la ciudad evalúe a todos los niños para detectar discapacidades de aprendizaje y de otro tipo antes de que comiencen la escuela, y que conecte a las familias con los recursos que ya existen.

Álvarez destacó que ha hablado con miembros de la Junta de Educación sobre temas que van desde la disciplina escolar hasta los problemas financieros del distrito. Su principal prioridad es limitar los aumentos de los impuestos a la propiedad de CPS. Considera que el distrito puede hacer más con los fondos que recibe actualmente. Sí cree que debe seguir buscando más ingresos del estado, pero también dijo que CPS debería reducir gastos innecesarios y gastar de manera más eficiente, incluso dando a los Consejos Escolares Locales mayor influencia sobre los presupuestos de sus escuelas.

“Es fácil decir: ‘Le pediré más dinero al estado’”, comentó. “El estado no tiene el dinero”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Álvarez.

Mila Koumpilova es reportera sénior de Chalkbeat Chicago y cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Mila en mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 4b

2026-09-28T21:17:23+00:00

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Ellen Rosenfeld, exmaestra de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago y exespecialista de participación comunitaria del distrito, se postula sin oposición para conservar el puesto del norte de Chicago que ganó cómodamente en 2024 frente a otros cinco aspirantes a la Junta de Educación, en la contienda con más candidatos de la ciudad.

Grupos que promueven la elección de escuelas gastaron grandes sumas para respaldarla y oponerse a un candidato apoyado por el sindicato de maestros, aunque ella se distanció de esos gastos. Durante los últimos dos años, después de dejar su puesto en el área de Participación Familiar y Comunitaria de CPS, Rosenfeld se ha dedicado a tiempo completo a su labor en la Junta. Forma parte de un bloque de siete miembros electos que se han opuesto a los miembros nombrados por el alcalde y a sus aliados electos en la Junta de Educación, que conforman la mayoría.

La expresidenta de un Consejo Escolar Local y madre de cuatro graduados de CPS sostiene que la Junta actual ha estado demasiado enfrascada en la política y ha sido demasiado susceptible a presiones externas. Sin embargo, considera que la próxima Junta, integrada en su totalidad por miembros electos, podría encabezar un resurgimiento académico, desde un aumento del dominio de la lectura hasta una reducción del ausentismo crónico, una de sus principales preocupaciones. Dijo que la próxima Junta debe unirse en torno a una serie de objetivos para mejorar el distrito.

“Sin una visión compartida, es casi imposible lograr las cosas buenas”, dijo Rosenfeld. “Ni siquiera sabemos hacia dónde intenta ir el barco”.

El Distrito 4b alberga 18 escuelas, entre ellas varias escuelas de vecindario con alto rendimiento académico,escuelas magnet y una popular escuela secundaria de admisión selectiva, Lane Tech College Prep. Las familias de esta zona eligen las escuelas de sus vecindarios en mayor proporción que las familias de muchos otros distritos, especialmente en el nivel de primaria. Algunas escuelas atraen a una población estudiantil diversa, tanto del distrito como de otras partes de la ciudad, pero, en general, esta es más blanca y de mayores ingresos que la de CPS en su conjunto.

Rosenfeld dijo que ha establecido relaciones con el personal de las escuelas y del distrito, las familias y los estudiantes gracias a sus horarios regulares de atención al público y a sus visitas a unas 60 escuelas, incluidas algunas fuera de su distrito. Defiende cada uno de sus votos, incluidos dos relacionados con el presupuesto: uno para aprobar un plan de gastos para 2025-26 sin recurrir a préstamos de alto costo y otro en contra del presupuesto de este año, al que se opuso porque dependía de fondos que el estado aún no ha enviado a CPS para evitar despidos de personal.

Rosenfeld provocó el enojo del CTU y de algunas familias de las escuelas chárter de Acero cuando estuvo entre una pequeña minoría de miembros de la Junta que votaron en contra de incorporar cinco escuelas de esa red al distrito. Ha argumentado que, dados sus propios desafíos financieros y de matrícula, el distrito no debería acudir al rescate de escuelas públicas administradas por entidades privadas que atraviesan dificultades. Desde entonces, algunos operadores de escuelas chárter y por contrato han señalado ese voto para argumentar que CPS podría rescatar también a sus escuelas.

Rosenfeld podría volver a enfrentarse al sindicato por el cierre de escuelas, una medida a la que este se opone firmemente. Sostiene que la Junta debe hacer frente a una década de pérdida de matrícula, una tendencia que, según las proyecciones, se acelerará debido a una fuerte caída de la tasa de natalidad. Destacó que los miembros de la Junta de Educación no deberían simplemente ignorar el creciente número de escuelas con una matrícula muy por debajo de su capacidad, en las que, según ella, los estudiantes reciben una experiencia educativa de menor calidad. El distrito debe aprender de los “terribles” cierres masivos de escuelas de 2013 y comenzar con una participación comunitaria genuina, quizás mediante la creación de un grupo de trabajo que reúna a una muestra representativa de los habitantes de Chicago, dijo.

“Lo que estamos haciendo no está funcionando”, destacó. “Es una locura y un desperdicio”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Rosenfeld.

Mila Koumpilova es reportera sénior de Chalkbeat Chicago y cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Mila en mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 5a

2026-09-28T21:16:51+00:00

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Una agente de bienes raíces respaldada por defensores de la elección de escuelas busca desplazar a un veterano activista educativo con vínculos con el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago en la contienda para representar al Distrito 5a en el oeste de la ciudad. También participa una maestra de educación especial jubilada que se postula como candidata por escrito. Después de décadas de falta de inversión, muchas escuelas de la zona enfrentan dificultades para estabilizar la matrícula y lograr que los estudiantes alcancen el nivel académico correspondiente a su grado.

El actual miembro de la Junta Aaron “Jitu” Brown, veterano organizador comunitario, quiere asegurar más fondos estatales y reducir los gastos administrativos de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Su contrincante, LaPamela Williams, originaria de Austin y exalumna de Lane Tech College Prep, quiere aumentar la responsabilidad financiera y recortar gastos que no benefician a los estudiantes. Kernetha Jones, quien fue retirada de la boleta electoral, quiere ver mejoras en los resultados de los exámenes antes de destinar más dinero a lo que ella llama un “sistema fallido”.

El distrito se extiende desde Austin, un vecindario de mayoría negra al oeste, a través de los sectores de Garfield Park y Humboldt Park y llega hasta Ukrainian Village al este. Esta amplia franja del oeste de la ciudad abarca 39 escuelas que sirven principalmente a estudiantes negros y latinos.

Los estudiantes que viven en el Distrito 5a tienen menos probabilidades de asistir a la escuela de su vecindario que los estudiantes de la mayoría de las otras zonas de la ciudad, particularmente en la secundaria. Menos del 7% de los estudiantes de secundaria de esta zona eligieron la escuela de su vecindario, según datos de CPS. Una escuela secundaria, Frederick Douglass Academy en Austin, tuvo apenas 27 estudiantes el año pasado y se ha convertido en un punto central del debate sobre cómo CPS debería abordar la disminución de la matrícula.

Los tres candidatos viven en Austin. Sus opiniones difieren respecto de las escuelas chárter públicas administradas de manera independiente: Brown y Jones se oponen a su expansión, mientras que Williams apoya la apertura de más escuelas chárter si cuentan con el respaldo de la comunidad.

Williams decidió postularse por su amor al aprendizaje y a su comunidad. Nació y creció, y sigue viviendo en Austin.

“La educación es para toda la vida, y los niños de mi distrito realmente están sufriendo, especialmente en lo académico”, dijo Williams, citando los altos índices de ausentismo y a los estudiantes que se gradúan sin las habilidades necesarias para tener éxito después de la secundaria.

Williams es relativamente nueva en el activismo educativo y la organización. Sin embargo, comentó que sus años de experiencia en puestos de atención al cliente, incluido su trabajo como auxiliar en un hogar de ancianos, la han preparado.

“Todo en mi trabajo tiene que ver con la satisfacción del cliente”, dijo Williams. “Explicar la información de manera que la gente pueda entenderla (...). Escuchar de verdad lo que las personas dicen y convertirlo en acciones”.

Williams está respaldada por Illinois Network of Charter Schools, que aboga por las escuelas chárter y cuenta con un brazo político con amplio financiamiento, así como por The Urban Center, organización política centrista que apoya las escuelas chárter y promueve la elección de escuelas tanto públicas como privadas. También recibe el apoyo de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política favorable a los intereses empresariales y contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks, que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

Sus opiniones sobre las escuelas chárter difieren de las de Brown y Jones.

Brown considera que CPS puede hacerse cargo de la administración de escuelas chárter existentes para prevenir cualquier daño a los estudiantes. Jones apoya ayudar a las escuelas charter existentes si tienen un buen desempeño. Sin embargo, ninguno de los dos considera que haya necesidad de abrir nuevas escuelas chárter.

Williams apoya la apertura de nuevas escuelas chárter en lugares donde exista una necesidad en la comunidad, y únicamente por parte de grupos que cuenten con financiamiento sostenible y un plan claro para mejorar el aprendizaje. Williams también dijo que CPS debería hacer más para apoyar a las escuelas charter existentes si están dando resultados y “cumpliendo con los criterios que deberían cumplir”.

Si es elegida, Williams dijo que examinaría el presupuesto a fondo.

“La solución siempre es más impuestos, más dinero”, dijo Williams. “Pero tenemos que ser más responsables con el presupuesto y su supervisión, y asegurarnos de que cuando paguemos, las personas cumplan con su parte”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Williams.

Brown, quien creció en el extremo sur de Chicago, desempeñó un papel prominente en las luchas que duraron años contra el cierre de escuelas en Chicago y a favor de una Junta de Educación completamente electa. En particular, participó en una huelga de hambre que ayudó a reabrir Dyett High School en Washington Park. Desde el 2012, dirige una organización sin fines de lucro que lucha contra la expansión de las escuelas chárter y trabaja para apoyar a las escuelas de vecindario.

Brown se postuló sin oposición para su puesto en 2024. Recibió el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y lidera el Comité para el Logro Académico de los Estudiantes Negros, que trabaja para reducir las disparidades raciales y mejorar las experiencias de los estudiantes negros en las aulas.

“Mi preocupación no es únicamente por los estudiantes negros, pero los estudiantes negros son la población que está en crisis”, dijo Brown.

El trabajo de Brown en el ámbito educativo se remonta a la década de los 90, cuando su grupo de rap visitó una escuela primaria del sur de Chicago. Brown recuerda a un joven sentado y encorvado en su silla que le dijo: “Oye, eres genial, pero no vas a volver”.

“Eso se me quedó grabado”, comentó Brown.

Después de eso, Brown comenzó a trabajar como voluntario con niños a través de la Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. Notó la desigualdad en los recursos mientras trabajaba en diferentes escuelas y comunidades.

“Estos niños de la calle 39 tienen una sola computadora en su aula, y eso es todo”, destacó Brown. “A estos jóvenes no les enseñan historia afroamericana. Me di cuenta de que había un problema de equidad, y eso comenzó mi camino”.

Brown ha sido una de las voces principales que presionan por un aumento en la financiación estatal para abordar la brecha del presupuesto del distrito. Quiere que los legisladores estatales aumenten los impuestos a los ricos y que eliminen los vacíos fiscales que benefician a las corporaciones.

“La voluntad política existe”, dijo Brown, “no solo para ponerle un torniquete” al problema, sino también para “sanar la herida”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Brown.

Jones creció en el oeste de Chicago y se graduó de la Farragut High School.

Según su currículum, enseñó a estudiantes con discapacidades de aprendizaje y de comportamiento en CPS durante más de cuatro años escolares entre los años 80 y 90.

Jones no respondió a las solicitudes de entrevista, pero en nuestro cuestionario para la Junta de Educación de CPS expresó su apoyo a la elección de escuelas y a proporcionar cupones a los padres, los cuales normalmente se usan para ayudar a cubrir el costo de la matrícula en escuelas privadas.

Jones se opone al programa integral de educación sexual del distrito, y afirmó, sin presentar pruebas, que CPS utiliza lecciones que sexualizan a los niños y que contienen material pornográfico. Hace dos años, cuando Jones hizo afirmaciones similares como candidata por escrito para el Distrito 5, Chalkbeat no encontró pruebas de que el currículo de CPS incluyera contenido de esa naturaleza.

En el 2024, una reportera de Chalkbeat le preguntó a Jones, quien utilizó con frecuencia un lenguaje antitransgénero en su cuestionario para la candidata del 2026, cómo pensaba representar a estudiantes con distintas identidades de género y orientaciones sexuales. En ese momento, Jones dijo que no estaba en contra de los estudiantes que no se identifican como heterosexuales, pero que se oponía a “adoctrinarlos en la escuela sin el conocimiento de los padres. Estoy en contra de que les cambien el nombre a los niños sin el permiso de los padres”.

La política de CPS establece que las escuelas no deben divulgar la identidad de género de un estudiante sin el consentimiento del estudiante o la autorización del departamento legal del distrito. Bajo esa política, los estudiantes también tienen derecho a ser llamados por el nombre y los pronombres que elijan en la escuela.

Jones también quiere limitar el uso de inteligencia artificial en las aulas debido al potencial de sesgo racial y quiere que CPS contrate a más maestros negros para que los estudiantes negros tengan más educadores que se parezcan a ellos. Investigaciones han encontrado que esta estrategia puede fomentar un sentido de pertenencia y contribuir a tasas más bajas de suspensiones y tasas de graduación más altas entre los estudiantes negros. El año pasado, el 34% de los estudiantes de CPS se identificaban como negros, en comparación con el 21% de los maestros.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Jones.

Lisa Kurian Philip es reportera de educación superior para WBEZ Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Lisa en lphilip@wbez.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 5b

2026-09-28T21:16:06+00:00

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Los dos candidatos que compiten por representar una amplia zona del oeste de Chicago están intentando conseguir un puesto en la Junta de Educación. La miembro titular de la Junta de Educación Michilla, “Kyla” Blaise, inició una campaña en 2024, pero se retiró a último momento, mientras que su contrincante, Anthony Hargrove, no apareció en la boleta electoral hace dos años.

Blaise, una asesora política que fue nombrada para la Junta de Educación por el alcalde Brandon Johnson en 2024, cuenta con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago. Hargrove, quien dirige programas para ayudar a jóvenes que abandonaron sus estudios a regresar a la escuela, cuenta con el apoyo de defensores de los intereses empresariales y de las escuelas charter.

El Distrito 5b es uno de los distritos de la Junta de Educación con la mayor diversidad económica, extendiéndose desde el próspero West Loop hasta vecindarios que han sufrido falta de inversión, como North Lawndale y Garfield Park. Incluye varias escuelas secundarias del vecindario que enfrentan una disminución de la matrícula, pero también algunas de las escuelas magnet de CPS con mayor demanda. Los estudiantes que asisten a las escuelas de esta zona son en su mayoría negros y latinos.

Los candidatos se han enfocado en temas diferentes. Blaise dice que sus prioridades son aumentar los fondos para CPS, abordar la disminución de la matrícula y mejorar la salud mental de los estudiantes, mientras que Hargrove se centró en mejorar el dominio de la lectura y las matemáticas, fortalecer la educación especial y ampliar la educación vocacional y la preparación para carreras profesionales.

Los dos candidatos coinciden en algunos temas. Ambos apoyan restricciones más estrictas al uso de la inteligencia artificial y de los teléfonos celulares en las aulas, y ambos se oponen al cierre de escuelas por cualquier motivo.

Blaise se enorgullece de ser “chicagoense de toda la vida”. Dice que su familia ha vivido en el oeste de Chicago durante cuatro generaciones.

Sus hijos asistieron a LaSalle Language Academy Elementary School y a la Kenwood Academy High School, lo cual le mostró el valor de las escuelas magnet. Quiere que los padres tengan opciones además de la escuela de su vecindario.

Pero como miembro de la Junta de Educación, dijo que apoya a las escuelas del vecindario y quiere encontrar maneras de revitalizarlas, tomando como ejemplo la Marshall Metropolitan High School en East Garfield Park. La escuela tuvo alrededor de 200 estudiantes inscritos el año pasado. En la década de los 60, cuando la escuela estaba sobrepoblada y el padre de Blaise estudiaba allí, Marshall tenía unos 5,000 estudiantes, comentó.

La escuela cuenta con recursos como una piscina de tamaño olímpico, una cocina comercial y equipos deportivos competitivos. Pero Blaise dijo que la Junta de Educación debería ayudarla a alcanzar todo su potencial, considerando la posibilidad de convertirla en una escuela magnet enfocada en deportes o agregar grados de escuela intermedia.

Blaise suele votar junto con un bloque de la Junta de Educación alineado con el CTU y recibió el respaldo del sindicato. Este año, tuvo un papel destacado al encabezar los esfuerzos para modificar el presupuesto de CPS con el objetivo de revertir algunos recortes previstos y contar con fondos estatales adicionales que podrían no llegar.

“Quiero ser una verdadera defensora para asegurarme de que la gente entienda lo terriblemente insuficiente que es el financiamiento de nuestras escuelas, y también asegurarme de que la gente entienda que existe una oportunidad para realmente cambiar la conversación”, aseguró Blaise.

Blaise dijo que su experiencia viviendo en una variedad de vecindarios —East Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Lincoln Park y Wicker Park— la ayuda a comprender las distintas necesidades de la ciudad y de su distrito.

“Tengo amigos y familiares de verdad en toda la ciudad que asisten a CPS. Creo que sé lo que está pasando”, dijo. “Espero que todos podamos simplemente conversar sobre los temas que nos afectan”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Blaise.

Hargrove, quien nació y creció en el oeste de Chicago, destaca por sus numerosos vínculos con CPS. Asistió a escuelas del distrito durante su infancia y se graduó de Orr Academy High School. Dos de sus hijos actualmente estudian en una escuela de CPS y otros dos ya se graduaron. También trabajó para el distrito en varios puestos, incluyendo guardia de seguridad, asistente de trabajador social y trabajador de apoyo para padres en escuelas como Marshall, Phillips Academy High School y Orr Academy High School.

Actualmente dirige programas “que ayudan a los jóvenes a reconectarse con la escuela y a prepararlos para tener éxito más allá de las aulas”, según el sitio web de su campaña.

Hargrove está respaldado por el Common Ground Collective, comité de acción política anti CTU que está financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”. También cuenta con el respaldo de The Urban Center, organización política centrista que apoya a las escuelas chárter y promueve la elección entre escuelas públicas y privadas.

Hargrove, quien no estuvo disponible para una entrevista, dijo en nuestro cuestionario para la Junta de Educación de CPS que su experiencia previa dentro del distrito lo ha preparado de manera única para formar parte de la Junta.

“Me postulo por cada padre y madre de mi distrito que sintió que su voz no fue escuchada, por cada estudiante que sintió que nadie lo veía y por cada familia que simplemente quiere lo mejor para su hijo”, escribió. “Aportaré una voz centrada en la comunidad enfocada en la rendición de cuentas, las oportunidades y en poner a los estudiantes primero”.

Hargrove quiere que CPS considere más alianzas comunitarias para usar los edificios escolares que no se utilizan a toda capacidad.

“La Junta debe tomar decisiones transparentes y basadas en datos que pongan a los estudiantes en primer lugar, fortalecer las escuelas de vecindario y asegurarse que los recursos se utilicen de manera responsable”, escribió al explicar cómo le gustaría que CPS abordara la disminución de la matrícula.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Hargrove.

Mary Norkol es reportera del Chicago Sun-Times. Puedes comunicarte con Mary en mnorkol@suntimes.com.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 6a

2026-09-28T21:15:31+00:00

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La carrera para representar al centro de Chicago en la Junta de Educación enfrenta a una ex lobbista que dirige una organización estatal de defensa con la ventaja de ser la miembro actual de la Junta, contra dos contrincantes, un asistente de educación especial respaldado por grupos que promueven la elección entre escuelas y une investigadore y consultore educative cuya campaña opera de manera más independiente.

Anusha Thotakura fue nombrada por el alcalde en 2024 después de quedar en segundo lugar entre tres candidatos en las primeras elecciones de la Junta de Educación y espera conservar su puesto con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y del Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios (SEIU), la cual representa a trabajadores de apoyo escolar.

Isaiah White, un trabajador de apoyo escolar, se postula con miles de dólares de parte de The Urban Center, organización política centrista que promueve la elección entre escuelas tanto públicas como privadas, y del brazo político de Illinois Network of Charter Schools. También cuenta con el respaldo de un comité de acción política que favorece a las empresas, anti CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que dice tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

Brenda Lee Anderson, docente de Northwestern University con licencia, no cuenta con el respaldo de mayores grupos de interés.

Debido a que se encuentra en el centro comercial y empresarial de la ciudad, el Distrito 6a tiene apenas 14 escuelas públicas, la menor cantidad de todos los distritos electorales de la Junta de Educación, y ninguna es una escuela secundaria de vecindario. Los estudiantes que asisten a las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago en esta zona son diversos, pero las escuelas tienen una mayor proporción de estudiantes blancos y asiático-americanos que CPS en su conjunto.

Las principales prioridades de Thotakura y White son mejorar los resultados de lectura y matemáticas. La principal meta de Anderson es resolver la persistente crisis presupuestaria de CPS.

Durante sus casi dos años en la Junta de Educación, Thotakura dijo que uno de sus mayores logros fue patrocinar la resolución Healthy Green Schools, que pidió a CPS invertir en más proyectos de energía limpia y utilizar los ahorros en energía para mejorar los edificios escolares, como la eliminación de moho.

La resolución se presentó después de que el distrito llegara a un nuevo acuerdo laboral con el CTU el año pasado para construir escuelas más ecológicas cuando haya fondos disponibles. Hasta agosto, el distrito estaba trabajando en seis proyectos piloto para instalar paneles solares o electrificar los sistemas en las escuelas como respuesta a la resolución, según los memorandos del distrito proporcionados por Thotakura.

La principal prioridad de Thotakura para otro periodo en la Junta es mejorar los resultados académicos de los estudiantes impulsando a CPS a cumplir las metas establecidas en su plan estratégico de cinco años. Dijo que quiere que el distrito publique con mayor frecuencia datos sobre el progreso académico de los estudiantes para que la Junta pueda hacer que los líderes se hagan responsables. También quiere encontrar maneras de hacer que todas las escuelas de su vecindario sean más atractivas para las familias, que con frecuencia le dicen que envían a sus hijos a otras escuelas. Dijo que parte de ese esfuerzo incluye ampliar el acceso al nivel preescolar, diciendo que las familias tienen que esperar a que haya cupo con frecuencia.

El año pasado, Thotakura se separó de uno de sus principales aliados, el CTU, al votar a favor del presupuesto propuesto por CPS, el cual no incluía préstamos de alto costo. Este año, fue una de los 11 miembros de la Junta que votaron junto al sindicato para modificar el presupuesto propuesto por el distrito, bajo el supuesto de que CPS recibirá $150 millones más en fondos estatales de lo previsto. Si ese dinero no llega, las escuelas podrían tener que despedir personal a mitad del año escolar. Thotakura defendió su decisión, en parte porque cree que la ciudad podría aportar más fondos provenientes de zonas fiscales especiales conocidas como distritos de Financiamiento por Incremento de Impuestos, o TIF por siglas en inglés.

“Creo que vale la pena movilizarnos, aprovechar este impulso e ir a Springfield”, destacó Thotakura.

Thotakura ha votado con frecuencia de acuerdo con el sindicato de maestros, pero señaló su voto sobre el presupuesto del año pasado como un ejemplo de su manera independiente de pensar.

“Si ves mi historial de votación, muestra que soy una persona con criterio independiente que, al final, toma en cuenta la información de todas las partes interesadas, pero actúa en base a los mejores intereses para los estudiantes”, enfatizó Thotakura.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Thotakura.

Para cuando White comenzó a asistir a Brooklyn Tech, una de las escuelas secundarias públicas más selectivas del país, su madre había fallecido y su padre había abandonado recientemente el hogar, dijo. Después de pasar varias semanas sin vivienda, se fue a vivir con la familia de un amigo en Brooklyn.

Un consejero escolar se mantenía al pendiente de él y se aseguraba de que pudiera pagar las cuotas de los exámenes AP y recibir almuerzo gratuito, dijo White. Esa experiencia influyó en su decisión de postularse para la Junta de Educación.

“Soy un ejemplo de lo que puede suceder cuando las escuelas hacen un muy, muy buen trabajo al apoyar a un niño que es consciente de lo poco que tiene y ayudarle a crecer y entrar al mundo como una persona capaz de vivir una vida bonita y feliz y contribuir al resto de la sociedad”, dijo White. “Quiero que eso esté disponible para la próxima generación”.

White se mudó a Chicago hace tres años con su pareja y comenzó a trabajar como maestro sustituto en CPS en 2024. También trabajó en la campaña de 2024 de Jessica Biggs, una de las representante del Distrito 6b en la junta educativa, quien ahora se está postulando para la presidencia de la Junta. El año pasado, White se postuló sin éxito para comisionado del Condado de Cook.

White ha modificado sus referencias en el sitio web de su campaña con algunas de sus experiencias anteriores. Su sitio web decía anteriormente que había sido presidente de servicios para familias de la Asociación de Residentes de River North, pero el presidente de la asociación dijo a Chalkbeat que White era un coordinador voluntario que trabajó en dos eventos, incluyendo una celebración de regreso a clases. White dijo que consideraba que sus responsabilidades se parecían a las de un presidente, pero después de que el presidente de la asociación le informara cuál era su título correcto, dijo que había sido “simplemente un descuido” y corrigió su sitio web. Para mediados de septiembre, la referencia a la asociación ya no aparecía.

El sitio web también había indicado que White dirigió varias campañas, incluida la de Biggs. Biggs le dijo a Chalkbeat que White supervisó las operaciones de campo y de voluntarios. La referencia a la campaña de Biggs fue eliminada para mediados de agosto, pero White sostuvo que sí dirigió su campaña y dijo que no tenía la intención de eliminar esa referencia de su sitio web. Al momento de la publicación, la referencia a Biggs seguía sin aparecer.

Si resulta elegido para la Junta de Educación, la principal prioridad de White sería mejorar los resultados de lectura y matemáticas, en parte aumentando el salario de los asistentes de maestros y buscando maneras de contratar a líderes escolares más eficaces.

La campaña de White ha recibido fondos de comités políticos de The Urban Center, Illinois Network of Charter Schools y Common Ground Collective, grupos que generalmente se oponen a las posturas políticas del CTU.

White dijo que no ha hablado con estas organizaciones sobre sus prioridades, pero considera que “reconocen correctamente que el CTU no está actuando en beneficio de los niños”.

“Pero voy a hacer lo que sea mejor para mi comunidad y… si eso significa que no me apoyan para la reelección, está bien”, dijo White.

Lee el cuestionario completo de White.

Anderson quiere usar su experiencia como investigadore de políticas educativas y sociales para abordar las desigualdades y aumentar los fondos de las escuelas.

Las escuelas fueron algunos de los “espacios seguros” para Anderson durante su infancia en Ohio y Tennessee mientras entraba y salía del sistema de cuidado de crianza temporal y su madre enfrentaba problemas de adicción. Anderson dijo que esa experiencia le enseñó la importancia de contar con entornos escolares estables y vecinos que brinden apoyo, y lo que finalmente le llevó a obtener un doctorado.

Anderson se mudó a Chicago hace unos años. La página de LinkedIn de Anderson y nuestro cuestionario para la Junta de Educación de CPS indican que dan clases en la Escuela de Educación y Políticas Sociales en Northwestern University, pero un portavoz de la universidad dijo que su empleo terminó a mediados de julio. Anderson dijo que planea regresar durante los trimestres de invierno y primavera de la universidad, después de las elecciones, y que mientras tanto está realizando otros trabajos de consultoría relacionados con la educación.

La principal prioridad de Anderson es resolver el problema presupuestario de CPS buscando fondos federales adicionales que aún no se han aprovechado, los cuales representan alrededor del 9% del presupuesto del distrito, e impulsando un aumento de los fondos estatales.

Si resulta elegide, Anderson dijo que recurriría a políticas respaldadas por evidencia, en lugar de intereses especiales, para orientar sus decisiones. También dijo que trabajaría para establecer relaciones y formar coaliciones integradas por personas con distintas perspectivas políticas, desde otros funcionarios electos locales y personas de clase trabajadora y bajos ingresos hasta multimillonarios.

“Cuando todos estos activistas y organizadores pensaban en una Junta de Educación, creo que tenían en mente a alguien como yo: una persona que quiere poner a los estudiantes en el centro, que quiere mantener la educación pública lo más pública posible y que está dispuesta a hablar con todos”, dijo Anderson. “La primera regla de la organización es que hay que organizar a personas que no siempre están de acuerdo contigo, ¿verdad?”

A diferencia de sus contrincantes, Anderson no ha recibido el respaldo de sindicatos importantes ni de grandes grupos de interés.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Anderson.

Reema Amin es reportera que cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Reema en ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 6b

2026-09-28T21:14:34+00:00

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Michael Neal, originario del sur de Chicago y pastor de muchos años, se enfrenta a Brittany Kimble, abogada y madre de una estudiante de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, para representar al Distrito 6b, el cual se extiende desde el próspero vecindario de Lakeshore East en el centro de la ciudad, hasta el South Loop y Greater Grand Crossing.

Los dos candidatos, que se postulan por primera vez, compiten en una de las dos contiendas de la Junta de Educación en las que ningún candidato ha recibido el respaldo de los principales sindicatos del distrito: el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago o el Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios (SEIU), que representan al personal de apoyo escolar.

Jessica Biggs, quien actualmente representa a este distrito, se postula a la presidencia de la Junta de Educación.

El Distrito 6b incluye 37 escuelas, muchas de las cuales sirven principalmente a estudiantes negros y han experimentado algunas de las mayores disminuciones de matrícula de la ciudad, mientras que otras más cercanas al centro han aumentado su matrícula durante la última década. Según los candidatos, las preocupaciones de las familias van desde querer escuelas públicas de calidad y con suficientes recursos en todos los vecindarios hasta sentirse bienvenidas en las escuelas de sus hijos.

Neal nació y creció en el sur de Chicago, se graduó de CPS y actualmente dirige una organización sin fines de lucro. Kimble creció en distintas ciudades de Illinois y actualmente su hija asiste a Ida B. Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy.

Las dos principales prioridades de Kimble son mejorar el dominio de la lectura y las matemáticas y resolver los problemas presupuestarios de CPS. Neal quiere mejorar la educación de la primera infancia.

Los candidatos cuentan con respaldo o han recibido apoyo financiero de grupos que con frecuencia difieren del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y de la oficina del alcalde.

Neal recibió el respaldo de Common Ground Collective, un nuevo comité de acción política anti-CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”. La campaña de Kimble cuenta con el respaldo de The Urban Center, una organización política centrista que promueve la elección entre escuelas públicas y privadas, y ha recibido algunas contribuciones de ese grupo, aunque Kimble insiste en que la organización no le ha pedido nada a cambio.

Neal, pastor de Glorious Light Church en el vecindario de Oakland, dijo que siempre ha querido ayudar a su comunidad más allá de los sermones dominicales. Hace más de una docena de años, comenzó a leerles a niños en una escuela primaria local y después empezó a reclutar a más hombres negros para hacer lo mismo a través de una organización sin fines de lucro que fundó.

Su interés en la educación creció y comenzó a servir en el Greater Bronzeville Community Action Council, que se enfoca en elaborar un plan para mejorarla.

Postularse para la Junta de Educación, “simplemente me pareció algo muy natural porque esto es lo que he hecho prácticamente toda mi vida adulta, especialmente desde que me convertí en padre”, dijo Neal, cuyas hijas, ahora adultas, asistieron a escuelas de CPS.

La organización sin fines de lucro de Neal, Timothy Community Corporation, operaba en una escuela de CPS que había estado cerrada hasta hace unos meses, dijo. La organización se enfoca en ampliar el acceso a servicios de salud y bienestar, así como en la alfabetización y el desarrollo de habilidades de liderazgo.

Neal dijo que su programa voluntario de lectura ahora dona libros a las escuelas. Ese trabajo despertó su interés en mejorar la educación de la primera infancia, la cual sería su principal prioridad si resulta elegido. Dijo que quiere que haya más programas de lectura en voz alta en las escuelas de toda la ciudad y reclutar a más organizaciones filantrópicas y empresas para que proporcionen voluntarios y otros tipos de apoyo.

Neal dijo que su campaña “no tiene mucho dinero”, pero que algunas personas han contribuido con ayuda similar o se han ofrecido como voluntarias, por ejemplo, recolectando firmas para que pudiera aparecer en la boleta electoral. Se describió como un “novato en campañas” y señaló que su esposa creó su sitio web, que una de sus hijas le da consejos de vez en cuando y que un amigo lo está ayudando a dirigir la campaña.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Neal.

Kimble dijo que ha intentado repetidamente, sin éxito, conseguir apoyo adicional en la escuela para su hija, tanto para dificultades del habla como para enfrentar el acoso escolar. Esa experiencia la llevó, en un momento dado, a educar a su hija en casa. Ahora también está impulsando a Kimble, quien es madre soltera, a postularse para la Junta de Educación.

Aunque ha buscado apoyo adicional para su hija fuera de la escuela, Kimble dijo que no “todos los padres deberían tener que hacer eso”.

Kimble dijo que creció y asistió a escuelas públicas en varios suburbios de Chicago y en Carbondale antes de estudiar derecho.

Kimble dirigió su propio despacho de abogados durante casi una década antes de declararse en bancarrota en febrero. Enfatizó que sus problemas financieros surgieron tras años de dificultades para mantener su negocio a flote después de la pandemia. Al momento de presentar la solicitud de bancarrota, Kimble debía $825,210 en distintas deudas, incluidas tarjetas de crédito, préstamos estudiantiles y deudas con la Administración de Pequeñas Empresas de Estados Unidos, mientras que solo tenía $227,873 en bienes personales y propiedades, incluida su vivienda, según documentos judiciales.

“He aprendido de mi situación… pude salir adelante al declararme en bancarrota”, dijo Kimble. “CPS no puede declararse en bancarrota, pero tampoco puede seguir gastando de la misma manera sin que entren más fondos”.

Sigue con licencia para ejercer como abogada y espera algún día volver a abrir un despacho. Por ahora, dijo, se ha vuelto “contraria a las deudas” y ha reducido sus gastos, como, por ejemplo, deshaciéndose de su automóvil y llevando a su hija a la escuela en un autobús de la Autoridad de Tránsito de Chicago (CTA).

Como miembro de la Junta, Kimble dijo que primero abordaría el persistente déficit estructural del distrito, en parte mediante la exploración de recortes fuera del salón de clases o la reducción de las obligaciones de deuda. Su otra prioridad sería mejorar el dominio de las matemáticas y la lectura.

“Para mí, los niveles de matemáticas y alfabetización de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago son vergonzosos, pero no creo que podamos mejorarlos hasta que resolvamos todo lo demás”, dijo Kimble sobre el presupuesto.

La campaña de Kimble recibió miles de dólares en servicios de consultoría y de recolección de firmas de The Urban Center, que se opone al Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago. En su cuestionario, Kimble dijo que “rechazaría dinero que pudiera comprometer mi independencia”. Dijo a Chalkbeat que los fondos de The Urban Center la ayudaron a aparecer en la boleta electoral y que el grupo “no le ha pedido nada” a ella.

Kimble considera que el grupo la apoya porque educó a su hija en casa, pero enfatizó que es “una defensora de las escuelas públicas por naturaleza”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Kimble.

Reema Amin es reportera que cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Reema en ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 7a

2026-09-28T21:12:57+00:00

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En este distrito de mayoría latina, una pastora y activista de muchos años que luchó contra la sobrepoblación en las escuelas de Pilsen y fue nombrada para la Junta de Educación por el alcalde en 2024 se enfrenta a un joven candidato y graduado de CPS que trabajó durante los últimos seis años en un programa extracurricular de una organización sin fines de lucro.

La miembro actual de la Junta Emma Lozano está respaldada por el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU), mientras que Jesús Ayala Jr. tiene el apoyo de defensores de las escuelas charter, grupos a favor de las empresas y el Consejo Estatal de Empleados Internacionales de Servicios en Illinois, el cual representa a miles de empleados de apoyo de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago y que en los últimos años ha tenido diferencias políticas con el sindicato de maestros. Ayala intentó postularse en 2024, pero su nombre fue retirado de la boleta electoral tras una exitosa impugnación de sus documentos de nominación.

Este distrito del suroeste de Chicago alberga 48 escuelas públicas. El año pasado, alrededor del 64% recibió la segunda mejor clasificación del estado, “encomiable”, mientras que el 4.5% fueron calificadas con “apoyo intensivo”, lo que indica que se encuentran entre el 5% inferior de las escuelas de bajos ingresos o que tienen una tasa de graduación del 67% o menos.

Los estudiantes que asisten a las escuelas del Distrito 7a son principalmente latinos y la mayoría proviene de familias de bajos ingresos. Casi la mitad de los estudiantes están aprendiendo inglés.

Tanto Lozano como Ayala Jr. señalaron que proteger a las comunidades de inmigrantes y conseguir nuevas fuentes progresivas de ingresos están entre sus prioridades, pero quieren tomar caminos diferentes para lograrlo.

Por ejemplo, Lozano votó a favor de aprobar un presupuesto de CPS que contemplaba ingresos adicionales del estado. Ayala dice que depender de fondos que no están garantizados es un error. Estas diferencias han ocasionado un duelo de apoyo en la carrera de parte de los sindicatos que antes eran aliados, pero ahora compiten por tener influencia en la Junta de Educación.

Emma Lozano es conocida desde hace mucho tiempo como activista y defensora de los derechos de los inmigrantes. Ha apoyado esfuerzos para garantizar que los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés tengan acceso a la misma educación que los estudiantes cuyo primer idioma es el inglés y respaldo políticas que limitan la cooperación de CPS con las autoridades federales de inmigración.

Lozano es pastora de la Iglesia Lincoln United Methodist en Pilsen. En 2006, la iglesia de Humboldt Park donde era pastora en ese momento dio refugio a una mujer indocumentada que enfrentaba la deportación, convirtiéndola en un símbolo de un movimiento nacional de iglesias que ofrecen santuario a inmigrantes.

Lozano estudió en escuelas de CPS, al igual que sus hijos, quienes asistieron o se graduaron de distintas escuelas, entre ellas las secundarias Juárez y Wells Community Academy, y Lozano Bilingual Elementary, una escuela que lleva el nombre del hermano de Lozano.

Lozano, una miembro actual de la Junta por nombramiento y apoyada por el CTU, dijo que quiere conservar su puesto porque es una de las pocas integrantes que entiende lo que significa vivir como inmigrante en la ciudad. Esa perspectiva es importante, dijo, mientras la administración de Trump siga con sus medidas agresivas de control migratorio.

Una de sus prioridades es mejorar el apoyo para los estudiantes de familias inmigrantes. Cuando los operativos migratorios alcanzaron su punto máximo en la ciudad el otoño pasado, Lozano instó a CPS a considerar ofrecer clases virtuales a los estudiantes que tenían miedo de ir a la escuela.

“Si yo no estoy ahí, entonces sí me preocupa mucho porque no tienen voz”, comentó Lozano.

También quiere trabajar para conseguir más fondos estatales mediante la promoción de políticas como aumentar los impuestos a los ricos. Fue uno de los 11 miembros de la Junta que votaron a principios de este año a favor de incluir en un presupuesto modificado de CPS la expectativa de que el estado aportaría más fondos.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Lozano.

Jesús Ayala Jr. trabajó en MetroSquash desde 2020 hasta agosto, cuando dejó el puesto para concentrarse en su campaña para la Junta de Educación. La organización sin fines de lucro enseña squash competitivo y brinda apoyo académico a estudiantes del sur de Chicago y de Evanston.

Ayala creció en Bucktown y asistió a escuelas de las CPS durante su infancia. Dijo que una escuela de CPS ayudó a su padre a adaptarse a la vida en Estados Unidos. Esa experiencia influyó en la convicción de Ayala de que las escuelas deben ser pilares de sus comunidades.

“Me encanta que mi papá haya encontrado apoyo en una escuela de vecindario mientras aprendía inglés y se adaptaba a un nuevo país”, comentó Ayala.

Ayala destacó que su trabajo voluntario con organizaciones que trabajan con estudiantes de CPS, como Mikva Challenge, lo motivó a buscar un puesto en la Junta. Destacó que observó una “desconexión entre aquello en lo que se enfocaba la Junta y lo que nuestros estudiantes necesitan”. Considera que la Junta dedica demasiado tiempo a discutir asuntos que afectan a una sola escuela y que debería concentrarse en problemas a nivel del distrito.

Ayala quiere enfocarse en mejorar los resultados académicos de los estudiantes y en evaluar la eficacia de los materiales educativos, como el currículo Skyline del distrito, que incluye un conjunto de lecciones de matemáticas, lectura, ciencias, estudios sociales y otras materias.

“¿Los estudiantes están logrando los avances que queremos y cuando no es así, podemos averiguar por qué?”, dijo Ayala.

Ayala también quiere abordar los altos índices de ausentismo y cree que mejorar la experiencia de los estudiantes puede ayudar. Por ejemplo, quiere prestar más atención a combatir el acoso escolar.

La mayor parte de los fondos de Ayala proviene de un comité de acción política afiliado a SEIU y de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política anti CTU que está financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Ayala Jr.

Emmanuel Camarillo es reportero de educación del Chicago Sun-Times. Puedes comunicarte con Emmanuel en ecamarillo@suntimes.com.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 7b

2026-09-28T21:12:26+00:00

Leer en inglés. Leer en chino.

Dos latinas con experiencia en el servicio público compiten por representar una parte del suroeste de Chicago que tiene uno de los porcentajes más altos de escuelas con las dos mejores clasificaciones de desempeño del estado.

La miembro titular de la Junta Yesenia López fue elegida en 2024 con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago y del representante federal Jesús “Chuy” García. Esta vez, sin el apoyo poderoso del CTU, se enfrenta a un desafío de parte de Erika Díaz Chávez, gerente de proyectos del Distrito de Parques de Chicago, quien asistió a escuelas privadas durante su infancia. Díaz Chávez cuenta con el apoyo del brazo político de Illinois Network of Charter Schools y de The Urban Center, organización política centrista que promueve las escuelas chárter y la elección entre escuelas tanto públicas como privadas.

López cuenta con el respaldo del Consejo Estatal de Empleados Internacionales de Servicios en Illinois, que representa a miles de empleados de apoyo de CPS y que, en los últimos años, ha tenido diferencias políticas con el sindicato de maestros.

Hay 34 escuelas en el Distrito 7b, y el 13% se encuentra entre el 10% de las escuelas con mejor desempeño en Illinois.

Las escuelas del Distrito 7b sirven al porcentaje más alto de estudiantes latinos en CPS, pero algunas escuelas también atienden principalmente a estudiantes asiático-americanos. Alrededor del 84% de los estudiantes provienen de familias de bajos ingresos y cerca de la mitad son estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Ambas candidatas dicen que quieren ofrecer más recursos de educación especial a los estudiantes en respuesta a las preocupaciones de los padres. También quieren asegurarse de que CPS esté haciendo lo suficiente para proteger a las familias inmigrantes ante el aumento de las medidas de control migratorio en la ciudad.

Sin embargo, tienen opiniones diferentes sobre las Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables, un programa favorecido por el CTU que proporciona fondos adicionales a decenas de escuelas para colaborar con organizaciones comunitarias y ofrecer más servicios a las familias. El CTU representa a unos 30,000 maestros y otros empleados de CPS y es conocido por su fuerte enfoque en temas de justicia social.

Díaz Chávez no está segura de que el modelo, el cual ahora está plasmado en el contrato del CTU, esté dando resultados y quiere evaluar el programa antes de gastar más dinero en él. López considera que el modelo beneficia a las familias y lo apoya, aunque coincide en que el distrito debe dar seguimiento a sus resultados.

Yesenia López se graduó de la Juárez Community Academy High School en Pilsen. Ha trabajado y ha sido voluntaria en varias escuelas del suroeste de Chicago. También se desempeñó como directora de alcance comunitario latino para la campaña de JB Pritzker para gobernador en el 2022. Más recientemente, fue subdirectora de campaña de Patty García, quien se postula para ocupar el escaño de Jesús “Chuy” García en el 4.º Distrito del Congreso.

Las prioridades de López incluyen proteger a las familias inmigrantes y aumentar los servicios de apoyo de salud mental de los estudiantes. Recientemente pidió a la oficina del alcalde que avance con la creación de un panel asesor de la Junta de Educación enfocado en las necesidades de estudiantes y familias que no son ciudadanos estadounidenses, ya que es requerido por la ley estatal.

SEIU, que ha respaldado a López, es uno de los principales contribuyentes a su campaña, al igual que en 2024.

Pero esta vez no cuenta con el apoyo del CTU. Ganó con el respaldo del sindicato hace dos años, pero en ocasiones sus votos se han apartado de los de los miembros de la Junta alineados con el CTU.

López dijo que le sorprendió no contar con su apoyo esta vez porque, según ella: “Soy la candidata que apoya la educación pública; yo misma asistí a escuelas públicas y he expresado claramente mi apoyo a nuestras escuelas de vecindario”.

Más recientemente, López se abstuvo de votar sobre una modificación al presupuesto de CPS impulsada por miembros respaldados por el sindicato.

“He demostrado que soy verdaderamente independiente”, dijo López.

López no respondió a nuestro cuestionario.

Erika Díaz Chávez, quien ha trabajado para el Distrito de Parques de Chicago durante más de 20 años, supervisa el sendero The 606 en una zona cercana al noroeste de la ciudad y administra datos para el departamento de cultura y recursos naturales de la agencia.

Decidió entrar en la carrera porque considera que la Junta debería hacer más para mejorar los resultados de los estudiantes.

“Creo que, de cierta manera, les estamos fallando a nuestros niños”, dijo Díaz Chávez. “Ese tiene que ser nuestro enfoque, al 100%. ¿Cómo podemos hacer todo lo posible para que a estos niños les vaya bien académicamente?”.

Díaz Chávez creció en la zona de Pilsen y asistió a escuelas católicas en Chicago y en el suburbio de Oak Park.

Cuenta con el respaldo de The Urban Center, grupo político que promueve la elección entre escuelas y que también ha apoyado económicamente su campaña. Díaz Chávez asegura que sería una voz independiente en la Junta.

“Quiero asegurarme de que podamos trabajar con todos, no solamente con las personas que piensan igual que yo o que forman parte de una lista de candidatos”, comentó.

Díaz Chávez dijo que sería más fácil tomar decisiones que sean las mejores para el distrito a largo plazo si hubiera más voces independientes. Eso incluye analizar qué hacer cuando la moratoria sobre el cierre de escuelas venza el próximo verano.

“Nadie quiere ver que cierren escuelas”, dijo. Pero luego agregó: “Tenemos que tener una conversación muy honesta sobre cómo podemos ser sostenibles para las futuras generaciones”.

La campaña de Díaz Chávez no ha recaudado mucho dinero, pero ha recibido contribuciones de Illinois Network of Charter Schools y The Urban Center, dos organizaciones que apoyan a las escuelas chárter.

Díaz-Chávez no respondió a nuestro cuestionario.

Emmanuel Camarillo es reportero de educación del Chicago Sun-Times. Puedes comunicarte con Emmanuel en ecamarillo@suntimes.com.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 8a

2026-09-28T21:11:23+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Con una campaña bien financiada y el respaldo de grupos con grandes recursos económicos que apoyan la elección entre escuelas, el miembro actual de la Junta de Educación, Ángel Gutiérrez, tiene asegurado conservar su puesto después de que nadie presentara los documentos para competir contra él.

Gutiérrez, líder de una organización sin fines de lucro y residente de Garfield Ridge, se postula sin oposición para representar al Distrito 8a en el suroeste de Chicago, donde el 60% de la población es latina, aproximadamente el doble del porcentaje de residentes latinos en toda la ciudad.

Esta zona se ha inclinado más hacia candidatos conservadores que otras partes de la ciudad y tiene más hogares con familias que hogares de una sola persona. En 2023, los votantes de esta zona favorecieron ampliamente al candidato a la alcaldía Paul Vallas, exdirector ejecutivo de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, sobre el alcalde Brandon Johnson, exorganizador del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago. En 2024, la mayoría de los distritos favorecieron a Donald Trump para presidente.

Gutiérrez quiere mejorar la educación especial, aumentar las oportunidades para aprender oficios especializados y garantizar el acceso a transporte confiable, incluidos los autobuses escolares. Las propuestas beneficiarían a los estudiantes que asisten a las escuelas de sus vecindarios. Muchas familias de este distrito eligen la escuela primaria de su vecindario, pero optan por otras escuelas para la secundaria.

Gutiérrez apoya que CPS continúe con su estrategia de permitir que las familias elijan entre una variedad de escuelas fuera de su vecindario. También es el único miembro de la Junta que le ha pedido al estado participar en el programa federal de becas con crédito fiscal de la administración Trump, que ofrece un crédito fiscal por donaciones a organizaciones que otorgan becas para que los estudiantes asistan a escuelas privadas o para cubrir otras necesidades educativas. Illinois no ha aceptado participar.

Los hijos de Gutiérrez asisten a una escuela católica.

Gutiérrez tendrá un mandato de cuatro años después de ganar un mandato de dos años para representar al Distrito 8, el cual está dividido en 8a y 8b en el 2024. En esa elección derrotó a Félix Ponce, candidato respaldado por el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago, con el 63% de los votos. Su amplia victoria y el apoyo financiero de donantes con grandes recursos, como el multimillonario Michael Sacks, podrían haber disuadido a otros candidatos.

Gutiérrez se presenta como un defensor de la responsabilidad fiscal, buscando que el distrito se recupere y tenga una situación financiera sólida mientras que mejora la calidad de la educación.

En 2024, Gutiérrez dijo que se postulaba para lograr un presupuesto de CPS más equilibrado. Dos años después, considera que también puede mejorar la manera en que funciona la Junta de Educación.

“Si prestas atención y observas algunas de las ridiculeces que hacen algunos miembros de la Junta, yo aporto la experiencia de saber cómo comportarme con decoro, con respeto por la institución y con respeto por los estudiantes, los padres y los contribuyentes”, dijo.

A principios de este año, se unió a otros miembros electos de la Junta de Educación para rechazar el presupuesto propuesto de $10 mil millones de CPS. El presupuesto, el cual asume que el distrito recibirá $150 millones más en fondos estatales de lo proyectado, fue aprobado por un margen estrecho.

Las finanzas del distrito siguen siendo una prioridad, dijo. Las familias “están sintiendo la presión de los impuestos por todos lados”, ya sean impuestos a la propiedad o impuestos sobre las ventas, dijo. Agregó que planea encabezar conversaciones sobre cómo ajustar el distrito.

“Estamos enseñando para el mundo de hoy y no para el de mañana, así que creo que tenemos que reimaginar cómo se ve nuestro impacto”, destacó.

CPS ha perdido 45,000 estudiantes en los últimos siete años, pero ha contratado a 10,000 empleados adicionales.

Para equilibrar el presupuesto, Gutiérrez dijo que la Junta necesita analizar cuántas escuelas están siendo utilizadas por debajo de su capacidad, cuántos estudiantes se han perdido y cuántos empleados fueron contratados con fondos de la época de la pandemia que ya no están disponibles.

“Tenemos recursos limitados”, destacó.

Cuenta con el respaldo del Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois, que representa a miles de empleados de apoyo de CPS y que en los últimos años ha tenido diferencias políticas con el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago. También recibe apoyo financiero del brazo político de Illinois Network of Charter Schools y cuenta con el respaldo de otros dos grupos cuyas posturas también suelen estar en contra del sindicato de maestros.

Gutiérrez dirige la estrategia de recaudación de fondos y comunicaciones de Enlace Chicago, una organización sin fines de lucro de La Villita. Anteriormente dirigió actividades de recaudación de fondos y desarrolló programas para Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago y la Chicago Hope Academy, una escuela secundaria cristiana. Forma parte del consejo asesor de Puerto Rican Arts Alliance y del comité directivo de Nuestro Futuro, un fondo dedicado a la filantropía latina, además de colaborar con otras organizaciones locales sin fines de lucro.

Dijo que sus décadas de experiencia como líder de organizaciones sin fines de lucro y consultor de servicio público lo ponen en una posición para tomar “decisiones reales” sobre el liderazgo, las contrataciones, el personal y el tamaño de CPS.

“Como líder ejecutivo, soy alguien que ya ha estado en esa posición, ha tomado decisiones difíciles, ha tenido que hacer despidos y ha contratado a personas para puestos de alto rango”, dijo.

Hasta mediados de septiembre, entre los contribuyentes a su campaña se encontraban donantes con grandes recursos económicos, como el multimillonario local Michael Sacks y Jim Frank, el presidente ejecutivo de la junta directiva de Wheels Inc. Estos donantes han canalizado decenas de miles de dólares para apoyar a candidatos que favorecen la elección de escuelas.

También ha recibido donaciones de comités vinculados a funcionarios del suroeste de Chicago, entre ellos la concejal Silvana Tabares (Distrito 23) y el concejal Marty Quinn (Distrito 13). Gracias a contribuciones de miles de dólares de algunos de estos donantes, el fondo de campaña de Gutiérrez creció considerablemente durante el último año.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Gutiérrez.

Francia García Hernández cubre Pilsen, La Villita y Back of the Yards para Block Club Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Francia en francia@blockclubchi.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 9a

2026-09-28T21:10:23+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Los votantes de este distrito del sur de Chicago tendrán una nueva representante —con un apellido conocido— en la Junta de Educación de Chicago, porque el actual miembro, nombrado por el alcalde, fue retirado de la boleta electoral en julio.

Brittany Bailey Preston, esposa del senador estatal Willie Preston, cuyo distrito abarca parte de la misma zona del sur de Chicago, tiene prácticamente asegurado el puesto porque es la única candidata en la contienda.

Ángel Vélez, nombrado por el alcalde Brandon Johnson para representar al Distrito 9a, presentó su candidatura para las elecciones, pero fue retirado de la boleta después de que se impugnara e invalidara un gran porcentaje de las firmas que había presentado.

El distrito, de mayoría negra, incluye una combinación de 47 escuelas de vecindario, chárter y magnet que atienden principalmente a estudiantes negros y latinos. El distrito también tiene uno de los porcentajes más bajos de escuelas de la ciudad que reciben las clasificaciones estatales de ejemplar o elogiable. Varias escuelas del distrito han experimentado una disminución de la matrícula en los últimos 15 años.

Therese Boyle ganó las elecciones de 2024 para representar al Distrito 9. Posteriormente, el distrito se dividió en dos subdistritos.

Boyle representó al Distrito 9b y Johnson nombró a Frank Thomas para representar al 9a. Thomas fue nombrado inicialmente después de que la primera Junta designada por el alcalde renunciara en masa durante una disputa entre Johnson y el entonces director ejecutivo de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS), Pedro Martínez.

Thomas renunció en junio de 2025 y posteriormente fue reemplazado por Vélez. Después de ser retirado de la boleta electoral, Vélez declaró a Block Club que no postularía como candidato por escrito.

Preston no respondió al cuestionario para candidatos ni aceptó una entrevista.

Preston, residente de Auburn Gresham, anteriormente dirigía una empresa de construcción junto con su esposo. Willie Preston fue elegido al Senado de Illinois en 2022 para representar al Distrito 16.

Después de que Vélez fuera retirado de la boleta electoral, Preston publicó en redes sociales una declaración en la que celebró lo que parecía ser su triunfo.

“Estoy profundamente agradecida de haber conseguido un lugar en la boleta y me siento honrada de postularme sin oposición”, comentó Preston.

En la misma publicación, Preston destacó que se enfocaría en tres prioridades: mejorar la alfabetización, ampliar las vías hacia carreras profesionales y oficios, y convertir a CPS en “el distrito escolar más favorable para las familias de Estados Unidos”.

“Como madre negra de seis hijos, la educación siempre ha sido mi máxima prioridad”, escribió Preston. “Los niños y las familias de Chicago merecen una mamá osa comprometida con su éxito y que luche todos los días para garantizar que cada niño tenga la oportunidad de prosperar”.

En 2014, los Preston demandaron a Chicago State University ante una corte federal, alegando que los dirigentes de la universidad habían tomado represalias contra ellos al interferir en las elecciones del gobierno estudiantil y al expulsar a Willie Preston después de que la pareja se convirtiera en activista en el campus y criticara al presidente de la universidad y a otros administradores. La universidad negó las acusaciones y un juez federal desestimó la demanda al año siguiente.

Preston también se postuló para la Junta de Educación en 2024, pero fue retirada de la boleta antes de las elecciones. El Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois, que representa al personal de apoyo de las escuelas de Chicago, ha respaldado a Preston. También cuenta con el respaldo de The Urban Center, organización política centrista que promueve la elección de escuelas tanto públicas como privadas, y de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU), financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

Según la base de datos Illinois Sunshine, hasta mediados de septiembre Preston no había recaudado dinero para su comité de campaña.

Preston no respondió a nuestro cuestionario.

Jim Lynch cubre Beverly, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood y Washington Heights para Block Club Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Jim en jim@blockclubchi.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 9b

2026-09-28T21:10:08+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Dos candidatas — una psicóloga jubilada de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS) que actualmente forma parte de la Junta de Educación y una exmadre de CPS y patóloga del habla y del lenguaje — compiten para representar al extremo sur de Chicago, zona con 46 escuelas públicas. La mayoría son escuelas de vecindario, con pocas escuelas cháárter administradas por entidades privadas y escuelas magnet a las que se ingresa mediante sorteo.

La actual miembro de la Junta Therese Boyle trabajó para el distrito durante 35 años, mientras que su contrincante Katherine Dunneback es actualmente profesora clínica adjunta en Saint Xavier University.

La matrícula es un problema en gran parte del distrito, donde solo un pequeño porcentaje de estudiantes elige asistir a las escuelas secundarias públicas asignadas a sus vecindarios.

Tanto Dunneback como Boyle tuvieron hijos que asistieron durante un tiempo a las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Los hijos de Dunneback asistieron a una escuela primaria pública de vecindario en Morgan Park antes de ir a escuelas secundarias privadas. Boyle dijo que una de sus hijas asistió al preescolar en una escuela pública de Beverly. Sus dos hijas asistieron a escuelas privadas de primaria y secundariaprivadas de primaria y secundaria.

Boyle dijo que los residentes están enfocados en asegurarse de que el distrito esté “gastando el dinero de manera responsable”, mientras que Dunneback dijo que sus vecinos están preocupados por la sobrepoblación y el cierre de escuelas.

Las dos candidatas coinciden en algunos temas académicos, entre ellos, imponer límites estrictos al uso de la inteligencia artificial y de los dispositivos electrónicos, pero tienen posturas diferentes sobre las escuelas chárter y el cierre de escuelas.Las dos candidatas coinciden en algunos temas académicos, entre ellos, en imponer límites estrictos al uso de la inteligencia artificial y de los dispositivos electrónicos, pero tienen posturas diferentes sobre las escuelas chárter y el cierre de escuelas. Boyle apoya las escuelas cháárter y la consolidación de escuelas cuando sea equitativa y rentable. Dunneback se opone a las escuelas cháárter y ha hablado de ampliar la iniciativa de Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables como alternativa a los cierres.

El programa, impulsado por el distrito junto con el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU) (CTU), convierte las escuelas de vecindario en centros comunitarios. Las escuelas con grandes necesidades y las organizaciones sin fines de lucro reciben $500,000 al año para ampliar el alcance a las familias, los servicios integrales de apoyo y los programas después de clases. El programa también ha enfrentado recientemente cuestionamientos por dificultades en su implementación y por la limitada evidencia de mejoras en los resultados de los estudiantes.El programa también ha enfrentado recientemente cuestionamientos por dificultades en su implementación y por la limitada evidencia de mejoras en los resultados de los estudiantes.

Según nuestro cuestionario para la Junta de Educación de CPS, ninguna de las candidatas quiere aumentar los impuestos a la propiedad hasta el máximo permitido para financiar las escuelas. Sin embargo, Dunneback sostienesostiene que los miembros de la Junta deberían trabajar con otros funcionarios electos para financiar las escuelas mediante otras políticas fiscales, mientras que Boyle sostiene que CPS no está gastando sus recursos de manera responsable.

La actual miembro de la Junta de Educación, Therese Boyle, trabajó en varias escuelas del Distrito 9b durante sus 35 años como psicóloga escolar y maestra.

En 2024, la residente de Mount Greenwood ganó con el 33% de los votos, superando a otros tres candidatos. El 51% de los votos que recibió provinieron de su Distrito 19, que ahora forma parte del 9b.

Boyle comparó su puesto con un trabajo de tiempo completo, lo que la ha llevado de regreso al salón de clases.

“A pesar del profundo conocimiento que tenía sobre el funcionamiento de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, no conocía con la misma profundidad todos los engranajes que hacen funcionar la educación en Chicago”, comentó Boyle.

La campaña de Boyle para 2026 cuenta con el respaldo del Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois, que representa al personal de apoyo escolar de CPS y que, en los últimos años, ha tenido diferencias políticas con el sindicato de maestros. También cuenta con el apoyo de donantes vinculados a grupos que promueven las escuelas públicas chárter y la elección de escuelas, así como de grupos que se oponen al CTU.

Boyle dijo que está enfocada en la estabilidad financiera a largo plazo del distrito. Una de las principales preocupaciones que escucha de los residentes es los altos impuestos a la propiedad y la necesidad de asegurarse de que CPS administre su presupuesto de manera responsable. El distrito tiene tasas de propiedad de vivienda más altas que en gran parte de la ciudad.

El año pasado, la Junta de Educación rechazó la propuesta presupuestaria preferida por el alcalde Brandon Johnson, que habría incluido un préstamo con una alta tasa de interés para cubrir gastos. La medida habría cubierto gastos a corto plazo, pero habría aumentado la deuda del distrito.

“No queremos cargar al distrito con más deuda porque la deuda que ya tenemos está consumiendo dinero que podría utilizarse para apoyar a los niños en el salón de clases”, dijo Boyle.

Boyle dijo que su primer periodo estuvo lleno de tareas importantes, en particular, la búsqueda de un nuevo superintendente tras el despido del anterior por parte de la Junta previa. Macquline King fue nombrada superintendente y directora ejecutiva en marzo. Boyle dijo que ahora está lista para enfocarse en los resultados de los estudiantes, así como en la seguridad y la protección en las escuelas.

“Quiero asegurarme de que tengamos buenos planes para enfrentar no solo las grandes crisis… sino también las cosas del día a día”, enfatizó Boyle.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Boyle.

Katherine Dunneback, residente de Morgan Park, ha trabajado durante los últimos tres años en Saint Xavier University como profesora clínica adjunta. Sin embargo, fueron los años que pasó trabajando en escuelas con altos porcentajes de estudiantes de familias de bajos ingresos y su experiencia como madre de estudiantes de CPS los que influyeron en su decisión de postularse a la Junta de Educación.

“He visto el impacto de la distribución desigual de los recursos en los niños de familias de bajos ingresos”, dijo.

Los hijos de Dunneback se graduaron de Clissold Elementary School en Morgan Park en 2022. Decidió postularse tras hablar con vecinos y residentes sobre lo que esperan de la Junta de Educación.

“Me di cuenta de que hacía falta alguien en la Junta de Educación que… alzara la voz para defender a nuestros padres, nuestras familias y nuestras comunidades, y que apoyara a los maestros y la idea de las Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables”, dijo Dunneback.

Estas últimas prioridades también coinciden con las del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago, que ha respaldado a Dunneback y está apoyando económicamente su campaña, según la base de datos Illinois Sunshine.

Si resulta electa, dijo que se enfocaría en reducir el uso de tecnología en las aulas, ampliar el acceso a la educación de la primera infancia y reducir el tamaño de las clases. Según Dunneback, las clases numerosas contribuyen a que los padres sientan una menor conexión con los maestros y se pregunten si sus hijos podrían estar quedando rezagados académicamente.

“Me gustaría reducir la proporción de estudiantes por maestro, porque la ciencia nos dice que esa es la mejor manera de apoyar a nuestros niños”, agregó Dunneback.

Dunneback participa activamente en la política. Ha recorrido vecindarios y participado en campañas telefónicas para candidatos políticos, más recientemente para la campaña presidencial de Kamala Harris, y participa en Politics and Coffee, un grupo comunitario de participación cívica en Beverly y Morgan Park.

Como miembro de la Junta de Educación, planea apoyarse en su experiencia en la comunidad y en el activismo. Espera trabajar con legisladores estatales y funcionarios locales para financiar las escuelas mediante políticas fiscales progresivas.

“Quiero que los funcionarios del distrito trabajen con los legisladores estatales para financiar nuestras escuelas lo más rápido posible de acuerdo con la fórmula estatal”, aseguró Dunneback. “Esta necesidad debe tener prioridad sobre el financiamiento de estadios u otras opciones que no sean esenciales”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Dunneback.

Jim Lynch cubre Beverly, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood y Washington Heights para Block Club Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con Jim en jim@blockclubchi.org.

Philadelphia expands program that flags students who witness violence outside school for more support

2026-09-28T21:09:30+00:00

The School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Police Department are expanding a program that alerts school staff when a child has witnessed gun violence, domestic abuse, or another traumatic event at home or in the community.

Under Handle With Care, police officers are trained to send a note to the school district when they encounter a child while responding to a call. The officer relays that an incident occurred, and sends the child’s name but no other details. School District personnel then identify the student’s school and alert staff that the student may need extra care and attention.

The program launched as a pilot in one North Philadelphia police district last year, and will expand to all police districts next week. The goal is to change the way schools respond to children who’ve experienced something traumatic. The model originated in West Virginia and has been used around the country.

“A lot of times the educators in children’s lives are not aware they’ve been impacted,” said Meghan Smith, deputy chief of the district’s Office of Intervention and Prevention. “Sometimes the most important intervention is having an adult that knows to check in.”

During last year’s pilot in the 22nd Police District, which covers the Strawberry Mansion, Brewerytown, and Cecil B. Moore neighborhoods, the program led to Handle With Care alerts for more than 73 students from the 15 schools in the pilot, according to the school district. There were 272 children total who were present at traumatic incidents in the police district, though the rest were not enrolled in the pilot schools.

Citing privacy concerns, the district is not releasing outcomes for those students, such as whether those flagged via Handle With Care received mental health or other types of support. A district researcher noted that they are tracking outcomes for every Handle With Care student, and may release that data in the future.

Sakia Beard Brinkley, principal of Richard R. Wright Elementary School in North Philadelphia, said at an April celebration of the program that Handle With Care helped her staff serve multiple students and their families last school year.

“A lot of things happen outside of school that we don’t get the information for,” she said. “So now being able to know something happened — not necessarily what happened, but something — that gives us an entry point to communicate.”

Whether police refer a student to Handle With Care is ultimately up to the responding police officer. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said his officers are trained to use this program for gun violence, domestic violence, fires and other incidents.

“We’re gonna run the gamut as it relates to what our men and women identify as traumatic,” said Bethel, a former chief of school safety. “Just having a parent arrested in front of a child can be very traumatic.”

Handle With Care initially launched with $1 million in federal money, and the expansion is funded by a $200,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. District representatives said the grant will cover a staffer and the initial training and other costs associated with the expansion, and that ongoing costs will be “very low.”

This story is part of a collaboration between Chalkbeat Philadelphia and The New York Times’s Headway Initiative, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) via the Local Media Foundation.

Sammy Caiola covers solutions to gun violence in and around Philadelphia schools. Have ideas for her? Get in touch at scaiola@chalkbeat.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 10a

2026-09-28T21:09:17+00:00

Leer en inglés.

Cuando Che “Rhymefest” Smith ganó hace dos años un asiento en la Junta de Educación, se identificó con orgullo como independiente tras imponerse a candidatos respaldados por el Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU) y por el brazo político de Illinois Network of Charter Schools.

“Les diré que mis conexiones con la comunidad me trajeron hasta aquí; mi trabajo me trajo hasta aquí”, dijo el artista de hip-hop ganador de un Grammy, quien se convirtió en activista y político. “El dinero no me trajo hasta aquí”.

Esta vez es diferente. Smith será el único nombre que aparecerá en la boleta para representar al Distrito 10a. El distrito, que se extiende desde Bronzeville hasta South Shore, incluye algunas de las escuelas más solicitadas del sur de Chicago, entre ellas Kenwood Academy High School y Murray Language Academy Elementary School, así como varias escuelas de vecindario consideradas de bajo rendimiento y que han perdido matrícula en los últimos años.

A diferencia de 2024, Smith ahora es una figura conocida que se ha convertido en un voto firme en contra de las posturas del CTU en la Junta y, por ello, ha recibido el respaldo y las donaciones de grupos que se oponen al sindicato.

Su única contrincante, Tameka Walton, líder de una organización sin fines de lucro, se postula como candidata por escrito después de que su nombre fue retirado de la boleta electoral.

Walton, exintegrante de un Consejo Escolar Local y madre de estudiantes de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS), dijo que reunió más de 500 firmas requeridas, pero estas fueron impugnadas. Walton dijo que intentó preguntar a quienes impugnaron sus firmas por qué la habían señalado a ella.

“Literalmente les decía: ‘Que alguien hable conmigo, conózcanme’”, comentó. “No supongan que soy la candidata de alguien ni que represento los intereses de alguien. Primero que nada, soy mamá y esa es mi brújula moral”.

Walton recibió el respaldo del CTU, pero hasta mediados de septiembre ni el sindicato ni ninguna otra persona u organización habían contribuido a su campaña.

Fuera de Chicago, Smith es más conocido por su trabajo como compositor para la película “Selma” y por haber ganado un Grammy. Pero en la ciudad, el expadre de familia de CPS suele destacar lo que considera sus logros en la Junta de Educación.

Smith dice con orgullo que ha visitado todas las escuelas de su distrito y que ha organizado eventos comunitarios mensuales para padres sobre temas como el ausentismo y el Plan para el Éxito de los Estudiantes Negros.

Señala como el mayor logro de su primer año una resolución que redactó y que exige que la persona que dirija CPS tenga las credenciales necesarias para ser superintendente. Dijo que durante su segundo año se ha enfocado en “organizar y ser transparente con la información”.

Smith se ha convertido en un crítico abierto de las Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables, programa en el que cada escuela recibe $500,000 para incorporar organizaciones que ofrecen servicios de salud mental, bancos de alimentos y clases para estudiantes y familias. El contrato del CTU con CPS contempla el programa, que se ha convertido en blanco de críticas por parte de grupos conservadores que regularmente se oponen al sindicato.

Smith destacó que su frustración con el programa se debe a que es costoso y nadie está dando seguimiento a sus resultados.

“Dejemos de hacer que las Escuelas Comunitarias Sustentables parezcan una farsa. No son una farsa, pero las están convirtiendo en una”, aseguró. “Porque lo que yo veo es algo que podría ser maravilloso para los estudiantes, la comunidad y los resultados académicos. Pero cada vez que uno pide datos sobre su eficacia, no recibe nada”.

Smith cuenta con el respaldo del Consejo Estatal de SEIU en Illinois, que representa a miles de empleados de apoyo de CPS y que en los últimos años ha tenido diferencias políticas con el sindicato de maestros, y de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”. El brazo político de Illinois Network of Charter Schools también apoya económicamente su campaña. SEIU ha incluido a Smith entre sus candidatos respaldados para las elecciones de 2026.

Smith defiende su decisión de aceptar este dinero.

“Nunca me pidieron que votara de cierta manera”, dijo. “Nunca me dieron una política y me dijeron que la impulsara”.

Smith no respondió nuestro cuestionario.

Walton dijo que representa a dos grupos importantes que Smith no representa. Primero, es una madre que tuvo que abogar para que sus hijos pudieran ingresar a escuelas de CPS donde tuvieran la oportunidad de prosperar. También es directora ejecutiva y fundadora de una organización sin fines de lucro que trabaja con niños que han vivido experiencias traumáticas en el ámbito escolar.

“Estoy viendo más allá de lo difícil que fue para mí navegar [el sistema de CPS], pero también estoy pensando, como madre, en lo que quiero que se haga”, aseguró. “La escuela debe ser un espacio seguro y acogedor tanto para los estudiantes como para los padres”.

Los hijos de Walton asistieron o actualmente asisten a escuelas secundarias privadas, principalmente porque juegan fútbol y porque pocas escuelas de CPS cuentan con programas de fútbol de calidad, dijo. Pero cuando una de esas escuelas privadas no resultó adecuada, tuvo dificultades para encontrar una escuela para su hijo, quien, según ella, presentaba algunos problemas. Terminó educándolo en casa durante un tiempo antes de que finalmente asistiera a una escuela pública y se graduara.

“Eso exigió que yo estuviera presente en la escuela, al frente de todo, y que aprendiera las políticas que existen para apoyar a estudiantes como él en las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago”, dijo.

Ahora quiere que haya una mejor conexión entre CPS y la comunidad de familias que educan a sus hijos en casa.

Walton dijo que se alegró de recibir el respaldo del CTU, especialmente después de que su nombre fuera retirado de la boleta. Dijo que coincide con el sindicato en que se debe evitar el cierre de escuelas y los despidos de maestros como forma de cubrir los déficits presupuestarios. Y dijo que “son luchadores”, como ella.

“Estoy luchando por mi lugar. Estoy luchando para que mi voz sea escuchada”, aseguró Walton. “Quieren ver las mismas cosas que yo quiero ver, primero como madre y después como candidata”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Walton.

Sarah Karp cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago para WBEZ y el Chicago Sun-Times. Puede comunicarse con Sarah en skarp@wbez.org.

Elecciones de la Junta de Educación de Chicago 2026: La carrera en el Distrito 10b

2026-09-28T21:09:06+00:00

Leer en inglés.

A primera vista, los candidatos que compiten por representar al sureste de Chicago parecen ser simplemente dos mamás y un papá con hijos adultos que estudiaron en las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS) y que ahora quieren mejorar el sistema para la próxima generación.

Pero detrás de esta contienda hay disputas políticas más amplias entre el alcalde y uno de sus adversarios.

Connie Anderson, asistente legal y madre de gemelas que asistieron a CPS, obtuvo una ventaja cuando, en julio, el alcalde Brandon Johnson la nombró para ocupar el puesto vacante, después de que ella presentara en junio los documentos para postularse.

Patrick Watson trabaja como principal asistente legislativo en la oficina del concejal del Distrito 9, Anthony Beale, uno de los críticos más duros de Johnson.

También está Rosita Chatonda, candidata por escrito y exmaestra que pasó años impugnando su despido de CPS, lo que la colocó en la lista del distrito de personas que “no se deben contratar”.

El Distrito 10b incluye zonas del extremo sur de Chicago que han mantenido una relación larga y complicada con la industria. Las acerías que alguna vez operaron allí proporcionaban empleos, pero también contaminaban la zona y, cuando cerraron, dejaron a muchos residentes sin trabajo.

Este distrito electoral de la Junta de Educación tiene la segunda mayor cantidad de escuelas públicas y de estudiantes. Dos tercios de sus estudiantes son negros y el 31% son latinos.

Watson dijo que el reciente nombramiento de Anderson es “una muestra de los juegos políticos que se están llevando a cabo”. Cuenta con el respaldo del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU), estrechamente alineado con el alcalde. Watson cuenta con el respaldo de Common Ground Collective, un comité de acción política contrario al CTU, financiado en gran medida por el multimillonario Michael Sacks y que afirma tener como objetivo involucrar a los votantes en torno a “políticas progresistas eficaces”.

“Simplemente no creo que la política tenga lugar en la educación”, comentó Watson. “Creo que la educación debe centrarse en la educación”.

Los tres candidatos de esta contienda tienen opiniones diferentes sobre el Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park, el enorme centro de investigación y tecnología que se está construyendo en su distrito. Anderson duda de que tenga un impacto positivo en las escuelas y señala como motivo las críticas en torno a un acuerdo contractual.

Chatonda, en cambio, ve posibilidades y Watson dijo que representa “una excelente oportunidad para CPS”.

“Esta es la ola del futuro, así que es el momento perfecto para involucrarnos desde el principio y asociarnos con ellos para ver cómo podemos incorporarlo al currículo de nuestros estudiantes”, aseguró.

Si resulta electa, la primera prioridad de Anderson sería garantizar que la educación especial cuente con financiamiento completo y que los estudiantes con discapacidades reciban el apoyo que necesitan para prosperar.

Es madre de gemelas, una de las cuales necesitó servicios de educación especial. Dijo que tuvo que luchar para asegurarse de que su hija aprendiera junto a sus compañeros de la escuela primaria tanto como fuera posible, como establece la ley federal, en lugar de estar en clases separadas.

Anderson recuerda haberle dicho a la escuela que sentía que su hija, al igual que muchos otros estudiantes, estaba “siendo dejada de lado”. Después de que Anderson obtuvo una evaluación externa, la escuela primaria le asignó una asistente a su hija y la mantuvo en clases regulares. Ahora tiene 28 años y cursa una maestría en arquitectura.

Otra experiencia decisiva para Anderson ocurrió cuando sus hijas asistieron a Ogden International para la secundaria.

En ese momento, la escuela primaria de Ogden, ubicada en una de las zonas más prósperas de la ciudad, en el norte, se fusionó con Jenner Academy, que atendía principalmente a niños negros de bajos ingresos, muchos de los cuales vivían en viviendas subsidiadas cercanas.

Anderson ayudó a recaudar fondos con Friends of Ogden y luchó para que parte de esos recursos se destinara a los antiguos estudiantes de Jenner y a los estudiantes de secundaria, dos tercios de los cuales eran de bajos ingresos y de negros o latinos.

Vio cómo esos recursos adicionales permitieron ofrecer programas, como uno de robótica, que encaminaron a muchos estudiantes hacia carreras de ingeniería. Quiere que más niños tengan esas oportunidades.

“Se abrió todo un mundo de posibilidades para esos niños que no creían que fuera posible”, comentó Anderson.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Anderson.

Watson vive en Pullman, no muy lejos de la casa de Roseland donde creció. Asistió a la escuela primaria de su vecindario, donde “todos vivían cerca unos de otros” y “había un sentido de compañerismo”, y después estudió en la Chicago Vocational Career Academy.

Cuando llegó el momento de elegir escuelas para su hijo, Watson dijo que él y su esposa decidieron enviarlo primero a un centro regional para estudiantes con altas capacidades y, después, a Jones College Prep, una escuela secundaria de admisión selectiva.

Comentó que una de las razones por las que se postula es que no le gusta que algunas escuelas carezcan de los recursos y las instalaciones que tienen otras.

“Eso realmente es una lástima porque creo que cualquier niño debe poder recibir una educación de calidad, sin importar en qué código postal viva ni qué aspecto tenga”,aseguró. “Una de las primeras cosas que quisiera analizar es: ¿Cómo podemos distribuir los recursos de manera equitativa?”.

Pero Watson destacó que su primera tarea sería equilibrar el presupuesto. Le molesta que el distrito enfrente un déficit cada año.

“Antes de salir a pedir más dinero, tenemos que mirar hacia adentro y decir: ‘Bueno, ¿qué no estamos haciendo bien? (...). ¿Qué podemos hacer para apretarnos el cinturón?’”, analizó Watson, quien trabajó como contador durante 25 años antes de convertirse en asistente legislativo. “En este momento es como un agujero negro”.

Anderson y Chatonda se oponen al cierre de escuelas, pero Watson destacó que no está “completamente en contra” de los cierres si estos ayudan a reducir el déficit presupuestario.

“No quiero cerrar escuelas simplemente por cerrarlas”, dijo, “sino cerrarlas si eso nos permite aprovechar mejor nuestros recursos”.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Watson.

Chatonda cuenta con una variedad de experiencias que podría aprovechar si resulta elegida. Se graduó de Senn High School y sus cuatro hijos se graduaron de Kenwood Academy después de asistir a una combinación de escuelas de CPS y privadas.

Chatonda dio clases en una escuela que cerró debido a los bajos resultados en los exámenes, algo que dijo que nunca volvería a suceder. Dijo que trabajó “hasta el cansancio” desarrollando estrategias para enseñar a leer y escribir a estudiantes cuyo desempeño estaba por debajo del nivel correspondiente a su grado. Escribió un libro titulado “The Literacy Gap” sobre lo que aprendió”.

“Promuevo la alfabetización para los niños que son descendientes de personas esclavizadas y, en realidad, para todos los niños estadounidenses”, aseguró.

Chatonda comentó que ha vivido de primera mano los cierres y las reestructuraciones de escuelas. Las reestructuraciones son una estrategia controvertida de reforma escolar que implica despedir y reemplazar a todo el personal de una escuela con bajo rendimiento. La última reestructuración de este tipo en CPS se anunció en 2014.

Más adelante, tras ser contratada nuevamente después de una reestructuración, Chatonda dijo que fue despedida tras ser acusada de “pellizcar a un estudiante” y de decirle una grosería a otro. Niega ambas acusaciones.

En 2022, presentó una demanda federal contra CPS, en la que alegó que había sido despedida injustamente y colocada en la lista del distrito de personas que “no se deben contratar”, lo que le impide volver a trabajar para CPS. El caso fue desestimado.

“Ha sido un camino horrible”, compartió. Pero agregó que esa experiencia la llevó a convertirse en defensora de los maestros negros, de lo cual se siente orgullosa.

Chatonda dijo que está decepcionada de que el CTU no la haya respaldado, pero que, si resulta elegida, defenderá a los maestros negros y tratará de hacer que los procesos de contratación y despido sean más justos.

Lee el cuestionario completo de Chatonda.

Sarah Karp cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago para WBEZ y el Chicago Sun-Times. Puedes comunicarte con Sarah en skarp@wbez.org.

Recent ICE arrests near schools and bus stops disrupt attendance and anger Democrats

2026-09-28T18:29:09+00:00

A father arrested near his 6-year-old son’s bus stop in Connecticut. Four people detained near an elementary school in New Jersey. Parents arrested outside of an elementary school in San Diego.

With the school year well underway, reports of immigration enforcement around schools and bus stops have unsettled families and educators nationwide.

Democratic lawmakers are urging the Department of Homeland Security to revive a policy the agency rescinded in 2025 that limited operations in and around schools, as well as other sensitive locations such as churches.

Homeland Security officials have said they are not specifically targeting locations near schools, and instances where agents have entered school property are still relatively rare. But educators for over a year have shared several ways nearby Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity has disrupted schools, including increased chronic absenteeism, mental health struggles, and fears in the communities schools serve.

While reports of large-scale ICE operations have died down since raids in Minnesota and Chicago that garnered widespread attention, ICE arrests soared to record highs this summer, according to the New York Times, following Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation and his promise that he’d lead the agency with a lower profile than his predecessor, Kristi Noem.

Six Democratic lawmakers from California wrote to Mullin on Sept. 22, urging his department to “end all ICE activity in the immediate vicinity of schools and college campuses.”

“Parents should be able to drop their children off at school without fearing detention, and students should be able to attend class without encountering federal immigration enforcement around their campus,” they wrote.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security wrote in response to questions from Chalkbeat that “ICE is not going to schools to make arrests.”

“This is just another false narrative to try and demonize our brave ICE law enforcement,” the spokesperson added.

The California lawmakers in their letter cited an incident on Sept. 9 during which ICE agents detained two parents after they’d dropped their two children, ages 2 and 5, at an elementary school in the San Diego Unified School District. A family friend reportedly picked the children up from school.

The detained couple were Haitian and reportedly in the country through Temporary Protected Status, an immigration status revoked for Haitians at the end of July by the Trump administration following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Community members in places like Springfield, Ohio have said the end of TPS has ushered in a surge of enforcement.

Several incidents in which ICE agents have detained parents have marked this school year:

On Sept. 14, residents said ICE agents detained four people in an area close to an elementary school in Montclair, N.J., during student drop-off.
On Aug. 26, in Danbury, Conn., a father said moments after he dropped his son off at the school bus, he was surrounded by ICE agents and arrested. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson denied targeting a school bus stop.
Dodge City Public Schools in Kansas told families the district may have students whose family members were detained during a recent sweep of ICE activity in the region. District officials urged community members to report to the district if they noticed any unattended children.

Educators and researchers have said such incidents like these ripple through public schools in a variety of ways, but one of the most evident has been in school attendance.

Officials from one Indianapolis school told a local radio station that recent ICE arrests this month have driven students to stay home — the school’s usual daily attendance rate is 95%, they said, but dropped below 40% around the time an ICE operation was underway in the area.

The destabilizing effects of seeing community and family members arrested and deported also creates anxiety for students, according to some research.

Two lawsuits in federal court — one brought by a group of school districts in Minnesota and another by the National Education Association — are challenging the end to the sensitive locations policy the Trump administration revoked. A judge in May delivered a setback to the suit brought by the districts, writing that they failed to prove the harms they identified were a direct result of the policy change. Both lawsuits are ongoing.

Lily Altavena is a national reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Lily at laltavena@chalkbeat.org. Lily is on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook.

How Chicago school board incumbents voted on key issues

2026-09-28T11:00:01+00:00

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One-third of the candidates running for Chicago’s school board elections this fall have an advantage over their competitors: They’re already in the seat they want to keep.

Sixteen of those incumbents have spent more than 20 months getting to know the mechanics of Chicago Public Schools and the people who run it.

They also have a documented history of how they voted on issues that impact students and staff, including the board’s major responsibilities of adopting a budget, hiring a leader, and setting policy for the city’s some 600 public schools. The 17th incumbent, District 10b candidate Connie Anderson, was appointed in August and has not cast the votes covered here.

There aren’t clear findings that voters consider an incumbent’s past votes when choosing a candidate, typically because they aren’t aware of specific votes unless it received a lot of media attention or was highlighted during election campaigning, said Vladimir Kogan, professor of political science at Ohio State University who has studied education policy.

However, financial issues, such as the board’s divided budget vote this summer, can lead voters to punish or reward an incumbent, Kogan said.

The board voted on a lot more than just the budget since being seated in January 2025. Chalkbeat is revisiting how the incumbents voted, including whether they abstained or were absent, on 17 key issues.

For each item, we’ve linked to our past coverage so you can read more about why board members voted the way they did.

Board members are required to abstain from voting if they have a conflict of interest or an economic stake, such as an investment in an education technology platform. Board members have also abstained for other reasons, often without explaining their decisions in public.

We have excluded new board member Anderson from this analysis since she has not voted on the issues highlighted.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Lumpen Radio: ‘Round the Board

2026-09-28T01:25:02+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.

https://www.mixcloud.com/lumpenradio/playlists/round-the-board/

Nikole Hannah-Jones’ essay on school integration sparks a reckoning for parents and education advocates

2026-09-25T18:59:31+00:00

When education journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones documented her choice to enroll her daughter in a high-poverty, high-needs elementary school back in 2016, her viral New York Times essay helped spark a movement.

The nation’s preeminent critic of school choice and charter schools as drivers of segregation and inequality said parents who oppose those outcomes must live their values. When she first enrolled Najya in P.S. 307, she worried whether she was making the right decision. “But I knew I made the just one,” she wrote.

Ten years later, Najya feels cheated by her mother’s choice.

“Sometimes I wish instead of always thinking about other kids, you would have thought about me,” Najya told her mother for a recent New York Times essay, as the extent of her academic gaps became clear. “I never really got the education I wanted.”

After Najya’s struggles in elementary and middle school, Hannah-Jones allowed her daughter to choose her high school. It’s a selective school that exemplified the inequality Hannah-Jones had previously condemned, she admitted. That admission, and her experience, has sparked a nationwide debate about the state of public education.

“In the end, I could not even sustain the cause within my own family,” Hannah-Jones wrote.

Some of the most caustic reactions came from conservatives, who in effect said Hannah-Jones had revealed herself to be a false prophet. Fox News said Hannah-Jones had “learned the hard truth” about public schools. National Review editor Rich Lowry said Hannah-Jones had still not faced that truth, blaming a racist system rather than bad teachers and administrators. “The New York City public schools mugged Nikole Hannah-Jones,” he wrote, “and yet she still doesn’t want to press charges.”

But conservatives weren’t alone. Keri Rodrigues of the National Parents Union said Hannah-Jones owed an apology to parents who used school choice to escape low-performing schools. Ordinary parents, including many Black parents, wondered why she didn’t prioritize her own child more.

On the other hand, Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, a longtime parent leader and integration advocate in New York City — which runs one of the nation’s most segregated school systems — hoped the piece would inspire efforts to address issues related to integration, such as access to resources and culturally responsive curriculum. “This is literally what reignites the work in this moment,” she said.

The piece generated hard conversations about education that won’t go away anytime soon. Here are a few of them.

Black parents can feel like they have no good choices

Black parents said Hannah-Jones’ essay illustrates the Catch-22 they’ve encountered: If they choose a school with a better academic reputation and a higher share of white students, will that come at the expense of their child’s emotional well-being?

“It either feels like you have to go one way and compromise on the other, and that doesn’t always feel good,” said Amber Thornton, the mother of a 5- and 7-year-old in Washington, D.C., as she watched her son’s soccer game.

Ultimately, Thornton — who discussed the matter on TikTok — said Hannah-Jones’ essay made her wonder if she should place more emphasis on academic rigor when it comes to choosing the next school.

@dramberthornton
I’ve spent a lot of time considering what would happen if my kids grew up in an all White school. Who they will become? Or if I would regret ever making that type of choice. That fear has led me to often choose academic environments where my Blackness is always reflected positively and abundantly. And at this time- I don’t regret that, but @nikolehannahjones article has made me look at my choices, and how it’s also influenced by fear. It’s a fear that feels unfair because I know that my White friends don’t have to carry this likeI do. It’s also a fear that I know will never go away. Black parents in America carry in a tremendous burden in wanting to make the right choices for their children and the anxiety can feel insurmountable. I appreciate this article for reflecting this reality. *Will share more thoughts on The Dr. Amber Show later! #nyt #nikolehannahjones
♬ original sound - Dr. Amber | Psychologist

One young woman whose parents sent her to a predominantly white high school said in a TikTok video that while she felt prepared academically for college, her high school years were characterized by isolation and racism.

Research suggests this experience is not uncommon and can have academic consequences.

@temi_adeo
I don't make videos this long or vulnerable usually but if you guys are normal I'll do more of them, talk about my experiences more
♬ original sound - temi_adeo

Others rejected the idea that there is such a stark trade-off. Hannah-Jones overlooks the schools that boast both a diverse student body and high academic standards, they said.

“My schools were hella Black and my teachers were hella smart,” an educator who goes by Dr. Miah wrote in a Substack post. “My public schools were high achieving; my teachers had high expectations.”

What happens in schools matters

Hannah-Jones describes chaotic school environments and absent teachers in elementary school. In middle school, the principal is engaged and caring, but Najya manages to get As in algebra without learning algebra. Najya was still shaky on long division and fractions, skills she should have learned in elementary school.

These problems are well-documented in high-poverty schools. But they’re not universal.

Some education advocates highlighted the charter sector, where some schools produce consistently high test scores for children with major challenges outside of school. Critics say charters sometimes achieve those results by serving only kids whose parents opt in.

Public school parents also weighed in to say their children attend high-poverty schools with better academic results.

Research suggests that principal leadership, teacher quality, and evidence-based curriculum all make a difference. Hannah-Jones herself describes P.S. 307 changing after a dynamic principal retired.

In 2015, P.S. 307 teacher Keturah Abdullah shows her second-grade students a STEM-focused experiment during class.

Hannah-Jones described schools serving mostly Black children as chronically lacking in resources. And studies have shown that money matters in education. But critics quickly pointed out that P.S. 307 gets plenty of money — roughly $43,800 per student, according to city data, though the conservative Manhattan Institute pegged it even higher. P.S. 307 gets that kind of funding because more than a quarter of its students are homeless and 43% have disabilities.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Roland Fryer described the characteristics that distinguish effective schools: “more instructional time, high-dosage tutoring, frequent teacher feedback, data-driven instruction and a culture of high expectations.”

“What matters isn’t only how much money reaches a school, but what happens after it arrives,” he wrote.

David Adams, CEO of Urban Assembly, the network of schools to which Najya’s middle school belongs, said in an interview that Urban Assembly is taking steps to assess students’ skills more precisely when they enter middle school and provide more differentiated instruction. Their success will be measured by student outcomes, he said.

Urban Assembly schools don’t screen their students, which means they serve more students with disabilities, more living in temporary housing, and more in intense poverty.

None of that absolves educators of the responsibility to ensure those children learn, Adams said: “That is the promise that we make to our families, and that is the promise that we will continue to fulfill by solving problems.”

The piece also exposed gaps in expectations of parents and teachers.

Many parents expressed shock that Najya’s homework — riddled with math errors — was never corrected or graded, leaving her to believe she was doing well. But some teachers took to social media saying they just don’t have the time to grade homework.

Is school integration still a worthy and realistic goal?

Hannah-Jones’ latest piece left many wondering about the feasibility of trying to desegregate schools.

Writing in New York Magazine, Zak Cheney-Rice noted that there seems to be little appetite in society for collective efforts at integration.

And one person called it “insane” that Hannah-Jones would fight segregation “by segregating your child.”

That type of reaction alarms Andrew Lefkowits, a white parent in Denver who co-hosts the Integrated Schools podcast and describes Hannah-Jones as deeply influential in his own decision to send his children to high-poverty schools where they are in the minority.

“The concern I have is that white parents in particular will see themselves in her experience and use it as an excuse to opt out,” he said. “She came with a lot of privilege, but her daughter’s experience is not the same as my daughter’s experience. We still have a cushion of (white) privilege.”

Educator and advocate Christopher Stewart recalled his frequent public disagreements with Hannah-Jones over the merits of integration versus Black-led charters, which he has championed.

But after reading Hannah-Jones’ piece, he did his own reassessment.

“The either-or framing has kept thoughtful people from saying the obvious,” he wrote in his Substack. “Black-led schools have a record of excellence the integration story tends to erase, and integrated schools do real civic work, reducing prejudice and preparing children for life in a country that is not always united.”

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Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Lily Altavena is a national reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Lily at laltavena@chalkbeat.org. Lily is on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook.

Indiana releases ILEARN results for individual schools as state preps new accountability system

2026-09-25T17:11:25+00:00

Indianapolis-area charter school students performed slightly better on the ILEARN in 2026 than students at schools directly run by Indianapolis Public Schools, according to data released by the state Friday showing school-level state testing results.

Around 15.3% of students attending Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools within IPS boundaries were proficient in English language arts and math, according to a data analysis from Chalkbeat.

Charter schools within IPS borders posted a higher proficiency rate than district-run schools, with 16.7% of charter students scoring proficient in both English language arts and math, compared with 13.8% of students in district-run schools.

While around 42% of Indiana students were proficient in English language arts and 43% were proficient in math in 2026, scores varied widely at individual schools and between different student demographics. Statewide in 2026, around 31.5% of students were proficient in both English language arts and math.

The significance of ILEARN scores is changing, because they will be a primary factor in the letter grades that schools are set to receive in December of this year under the state’s new accountability system. For elementary and middle schools, both ILEARN proficiency and student growth on the test factor into the number of points each student earns, which is then averaged to calculate a school’s total.

This year, all students took a new, shorter version of the ILEARN, along with checkpoint tests throughout the year. The checkpoints are meant to give teachers and parents data on student progress, but only the results of the final test are reported publicly.

State education officials cautioned against making comparisons to past years’ ILEARN scores given changes to the test.

Just 29% of students who received subsidized meals — a federal measure of poverty — scored proficient in English, compared with 53% of those students who didn’t.

Math performance declined in upper grades. While just over half of Indiana third and fourth graders were proficient on the math section of the ILEARN, only around 34% of eighth graders passed the math section.

Around 41% of third graders were proficient in English language arts, which remained consistent through middle school before rising slightly to 44% for eighth grade.

Below, see how your school performed on the 2026 ILEARN:

This story has been updated to include scores from Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools within IPS boundaries.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s what DPSCD board candidates would do to replace literacy money that’s about to run out

2026-09-25T15:45:02+00:00

Ten years ago, an explosive lawsuit against the state was filed on behalf of Detroit students, alleging such poor learning conditions that it sent shockwaves across the country and drew attention to a literacy crisis in city schools.

A $94.4 million settlement gave the Detroit Public Schools Community District the resources it needed to hire hundreds of academic interventionists to work with struggling students. Other changes have included reducing class sizes in early grades, tutoring, and merit pay for teachers whose schools or classrooms reached ambitious literacy goals. Steady improvement on state exams have followed these interventions.

But the settlement money will run out after this school year, and the election of five people to the DPSCD board Nov. 3 will help decide how the district responds. Their big decision will be how and whether to maintain the interventionists, as well as other strategies the settlement funded.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said earlier this year that he wants the district to prioritize keeping the interventionists. But doing so could be costly, and it’s unclear where the money would come from.

Chalkbeat asked the 34 board candidates what the district should prioritize. Nineteen of the candidates responded. Here’s the full list of candidates. Also, if you’re voting in the election, remember that there are two types of school board races for DPSCD on the ballot: one for four four-year terms and the other for a partial two-year term.

Here’s what they told us:

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.

IPS board declines to reverse superintendent’s decision to leave Enroll Indy website

2026-09-25T03:13:09+00:00

Board members for Indianapolis Public Schools declined to vote on whether to maintain the district’s association with the Enroll Indy platform Thursday, despite previously planning to do so.

The move preserves Superintendent Aleesia Johnson’s controversial decision in early September to withdraw the district in favor of an in-house registration system run by PowerSchool. IPS said the move will cut costs and help families. But critics, including several in the charter school community, said it would create confusion in the public school community.

Enroll Indy enables families to enroll in most IPS schools and charter schools in the area on one platform. The board’s decision not to overturn Johnson’s decision means families will no longer be able to review and enroll in those schools in one place.

On Sept. 11, Johnson announced the district would move its application, lottery, and registration to PowerSchool, which she said IPS families are already familiar with. According to IPS documents, the district paid up to $21,730 a month to Enroll Indy from September 2022 to June 2023.

IPS spokesman Marc Ransford said the change would save more than $300,000 in the first year.

The district’s contract with Enroll Indy ended in June, Ransford said, and the change will take effect for the 2027-28 application cycle, which begins Nov. 5.

Just a few days after the announcement, Enroll Indy said it would drop the fee charged to charter school authorizers and IPS for one year. Despite this, IPS pressed forward with the change.

On Tuesday, however, board commissioners passed a motion to vote on the Enroll Indy decision during their Thursday meeting. Some cited a desire to discuss a potential departure with the community before making a final decision.

Johnson said she was surprised by board members’ decision to hold a vote. And board Vice President Nicole Carey noted that the switch to PowerSchool was part of Johnson’s plan to follow the board’s directive to increase enrollment.

But on Thursday, Carey said that after consulting with IPS’ general counsel, the board determined that any attempt to vote on the matter violated its bylaws. The bylaws dictate that while the board decides general policies, the superintendent is responsible for implementing the board policies, she said.

“The board decides the what. The superintendent decides the how,” Carey said.

Parents on both sides of the debate spoke at the meeting.

Several parents said leaving Enroll Indy would especially harm immigrant families, for whom technology can pose just as much of a barrier as language.

Others said Enroll Indy makes it easier for families to compare schools.

“For me, Enroll Indy was not just where I applied; it was how I discovered what was available,” said Sunshine Quinn. “Because parents are just trying to answer one question: Where can my child grow and succeed?”

Other families applauded Johnson’s decision.

Megan Hise, a member of the IPS Parent Council, argued that Enroll Indy isn’t truly accessible. She cited a family who tried to register their child at Arsenal Tech High School using Enroll Indy, only to be told there were no spots available. However, when the family called the school, they were told there were many spots still open.

The debate about the site comes amid significant tensions between district and charter schools. This year saw the controversial creation of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, which now manages transportation, facilities, and more for charter and IPS schools. IPEC also reduced the power of school boards, although they retain control over day-to-day decisions.

Newark families should receive delayed 2026 state test scores in October

2026-09-25T01:44:10+00:00

Newark families should be able to view their children’s scores from last spring’s state tests around Oct. 7, Superintendent Roger León said at Thursday night’s school board meeting.

The state sent districts the results on Sept. 18, after Newark students had already returned to class on Sept. 8. The district’s data team is currently reviewing the scores, León said. He expects paper copies of individual student reports to reach schools around Oct. 9, but did not say when schools would distribute them to families.

The results will give families a better sense of where their children stand in reading and math. They will also give Newark educators key information they lacked at the start of the school year as the district works to improve student achievement. Last year, 34% of Newark students in grades 3-9 met the state’s standards in English language arts, compared with 53% statewide. Just over 21% of Newark students met the standards in math.

New Jersey introduced the NJSLA-Adaptive this past spring. The new online assessment adjusts the difficulty of questions based on a student’s answers, León said. State officials alerted the public that scores would arrive later than usual because they needed to set new scoring benchmarks and obtain approval from the New Jersey Board of Education.

The wait meant school leaders began the year without a measure they use to identify students who need additional support and to plan teacher training.

“When we have this data ahead of the school year, there are influences to our professional development,” León said. With that not being the case, he added, the results will instead be a focus of the district’s next training for teachers and school leaders.

The results will also show whether Newark students continued the reading and math gains they made last year, when pass rates improved but remained below 2019 levels. Newark received $400,000 from the state this year to expand tutoring for students struggling in both subjects, adding to the district’s existing efforts to address pandemic learning loss.

New Denver residence will house at-risk or homeless college students

2026-09-25T00:58:18+00:00

Sign up for our free monthly newsletter Beyond High School to get the latest news about college and career paths for Colorado’s high school grads.

During her first semester at Chicago’s Malcolm X College, Nikya Harrell had had enough. It was winter, and she was cold. She was bouncing to and from family members’ houses and sometimes could only afford one meal a week.

Harrell came to school overwhelmed and crying. A concerned friend suggested she see the school’s therapist, who connected her with the Dax Program, which offers students at risk of or experiencing homelessness a place to live for up to two years.

Harrell came to Denver for Depaul USA’s Dax Program’s Thursday opening of the city’s first student residence near the Capitol building. Harrell had a message for other students who face challenges finding a place to live that she’s often repeated to herself: “You’re never alone.”

Nikya Harrell, 24, used Dax Program housing in Chicago before she moved into her own apartment. Harrell stands outside the newest Dax residence on Sept. 24, 2026 in Denver.

Dax provides students with a safe living space that allows them to focus on getting a college degree without worrying about where they’ll sleep. The program has partnered with Metropolitan State University of Denver and Regis University, but wants to expand services to other local colleges and universities.

The nonprofit provides resources to people experiencing homelessness and operates 11 Dax student housing programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York. The program started in 2015 and has housed 494 students in those cities.

The Denver Dax residence, an 1890s brick building that was originally a duplex in North Capitol Hill, is one of the national program’s larger residences and will be able to house up to 15 students.

The Denver building will expand the program’s reach to about 110 students annually, according to a news release. Depaul USA’s website says about 95% of residents find permanent housing after participating in the program, and the Depaul USA news release says about 84% remain in school or graduate.

To live in the house, students must work a minimum of 10 hours per week, be in good academic standing, and pay a reduced-cost monthly rent.

Students in the program also get movie nights, Sunday dinners, and resources such as onsite food pantries, financial literacy workshops, employment assistance, and physical and behavioral health referrals.

“Our program is really designed to transition students towards independence,” said Serita Reels, Depaul USA’s national Dax Program director.

Nationwide, a recent survey of 74,350 students at 91 colleges in 16 states shared that about half of them experience housing insecurity and about 14% are homeless, according to a 2023-24 report from The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs.

MSU Denver’s Abbie Kell, the school’s associate director of basic needs and housing support, said her office helps about 80 to 90 students annually who are experiencing homelessness. Erica Ingalls, Regis’ dean of students, said her school provides aid to four to six students a year who don’t have a place to live.

Both campuses connect students with a list of resources that includes help applying to federal food aid, access to food pantries, and housing assistance. Regis provides two weeks of residence hall housing for homeless students, and MSU Denver offers emergency housing assistance.

But some students might not be eligible for those resources, or the help might not last long enough to help them get on their feet. Students also typically stay away from community shelters, Kell said.

“A lot of students usually live out of their car,” Kell said.

MSU Denver helped a student move into the Dax building before the Thursday ribbon-cutting ceremony, Kell said.

She said the process was respectful of the student’s circumstances. The student interviewed with Dax Program staff, talked about where they would wash clothes, and decided which room they wanted, Kell said.

Harrell said Dax Chicago’s Cecilia house gave her her own living space for the first time. She decorated the walls with “Coraline” and One Direction posters.

She also put affirmations such as “Take a deep breath” and “You might be going through a storm, but the sun is approaching soon” on the walls and in her desk.

Her own space helped her open up. She dove deep into poetry and journaling. She’s participated in her school’s student government. She now lives in an apartment and plans to graduate from DePaul University in 2029 with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.

AI and the shrinking college payoff, NHJ’s school in context, Sal Khan’s origin story: A Chalkbeat Ideas roundup

2026-09-24T22:28:48+00:00

Welcome to Chalkbeat Ideas. This is our semi-monthly roundup of interesting takes, tidbits, and links. Feel free to send along links and ideas for the next one.

Is AI devaluing a college degree? An update.

For many years, a college degree has been a major advantage for those seeking well-paying jobs. This has been a key theme of this newsletter. Yet I’ve also noted that it’s reasonable to wonder whether artificial intelligence will wipe out some white-collar work and devalue a college education.

A new study provides initial evidence for that theory: The college wage advantage has dropped sharply in the last several years. See the graph below. The researchers offer a rough estimate that a third of this dip is due to AI, though it’s hard to say for sure. Since the pandemic, the job market for people without college degrees has been unusually strong.

To continue reading, click here.

Detroiters to vote on two-year, four-year terms for DPSCD school board

2026-09-24T21:44:57+00:00

When voters open their absentee ballots or head to the polls on Election Day, they may notice something different when selecting candidates for Detroit’s school board.

Instead of one race for the Detroit Public Schools Community District board, there are two: 31 candidates are running for four seats with 4-year terms and another three are seeking one seat with a partial term that will end in 2028. Those three candidates are home health aide Ijazz Jackson, education advocate Aliya Moore, and By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) organizer Shawn Vaughn.

The partial term is for a seat formerly held by Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, who left the board last year to become the ombudsman for the city of Detroit, superintendent Nikolai Vitti told BridgeDetroit. The former teacher and state lawmaker was reelected to the board in 2024, which leaves two more years of her term, he said.

While retired special education teacher and principal Bessie Harris filled Gay-Dagnogo’s seat last October, she is only allowed to serve through the end of 2026 instead of completing the entire term. A Michigan Association of School Boards policy requires appointed board members to run if there is already a set board election the following November.

Longtime board member Angelique Peterson-Mayberry also resigned from the board last year after being appointed to the Wayne County Commission. Her term does not appear on the ballot because it expires at the end of the year. Pastor Steven Bland was appointed in July 2025 to take Peterson-Mayberry’s place.

Daniel Baxter, chief of operations for the Detroit Department of Elections, said candidates were able to select whether they wanted to run for the two-year or four-year terms.

The 34 total candidates running are the largest slate since 2016, the year DPSCD was created, and when more than 60 people ran to serve on the new district’s board.

This race could be consequential because only two incumbents — Harris and Bland — are running for reelection. Voters will elect a new majority to the board in an election that could shape the future of Michigan’s largest district for years to come.

The board’s current leaders — Board President LaTrice McClendon and Board Vice President Corletta Vaughn — are not running for reelection. The fifth open seat belonged to Iris Taylor, who died in July {the board appointed Jeremiah Steen to fill her seat until the end of 2026, after which those elected in November will take over}.

Sheila Cockrel, CEO of civic nonprofit CitizenDetroit, shared concerns that the two board races could confuse voters.

“We have to let Detroit voters know that if you want to learn about who the candidates are, you have to learn about them in the context of which race they’re in,” she said. “I’m afraid that people are going to find the five folks they like out of the four-year term group and not look at the two-year term group and hurt themselves by voting for five as opposed to four.”

To educate voters on the school board races, CitizenDetroit has released a YouTube series with 25 of the candidates. The organization will also host a sold-out, speed-dating-style event on Oct. 1, in which 16 of the school board candidates will participate, Cockrel said.

“There are a set of six questions that we’re going to share with the candidates in advance that they might be asked at one of the tables,” she said. “The people who are at the table will review the questions and select which questions they want to ask on each of the rotations.”

Additionally, Cockrel plans to publish posts on CitizenDetroit’s social media pages to talk about the differences between the four-year and two-year terms.

View your sample ballot by inputting your information at the Michigan Voter Information Center. Get more information on this race and all of the issues at bridgedetroit.com and chalkbeat.org/detroit.

More election resources

Meet the candidates: Unsure of who is running for school board and what they stand for? Chalkbeat sent surveys to all of the candidates, and CitizenDetroit recorded many on video to talk about their platforms.
Why it matters: Here’s what’s at stake in the Detroit school board race.
Chronic absenteeism: How candidates plan to tackle it.
Election page: All of BridgeDetroit’s election-related coverage in one place.
Complete voter guide: How to register, vote absentee, vote early, vote in person, learn about candidates, and more.
What’s on the ballot: Everything you need to know about statewide races.
Fact checks: Bridge Michigan fact-checks and debunks misinformation in the gubernatorial and Senate campaigns.
FAQ: Frequently asked questions about elections in Detroit.
Be an informed voter: A guide to identifying misinformation and disinformation.
A ballot’s journey: What happens to your ballot after you vote.
Upcoming debate: Secretary of State candidates will gather for a one-hour debate Oct. 8 at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, with Bridge Michigan serving as the lead media and editorial partner.

Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.

Mamdani names Alan Ong new chair of NYC school board

2026-09-24T19:35:32+00:00

Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped a new chairperson for New York City’s school board, the volunteer body that votes on major policy decisions and contracts: Queens civic leader Alan Ong.

Ong has been serving on the board since former Mayor Eric Adams appointed him in 2022. Mamdani reappointed him in July.

Under a state rule passed two years ago, the mayor must now appoint a chair for the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP, selected from a pool narrowed by Albany officials.

The role of the PEP chair was created by state officials to make the board more independent from the mayor, and was part of a deal in Albany to extend mayoral control in 2024 for another two years. The city’s system of mayoral control has relied on the mayor’s ability to appoint a majority of the panel’s members — the mayor picks 13 of its 24 members.

Many education observers have long felt the PEP is essentially a rubber stamp for the mayor’s policies. But Ong’s predecessor, Greg Faulkner, whose term ended this month, took his independence seriously, and under his watch, the board cast several high-profile “no” votes.

It remains to be seen whether Ong follows suit. He was chosen by Mamdani after state Senate and Assembly leaders, as well as the chancellor of the state’s Board of Regents, each nominated a candidate to oversee the city board.

In a controversial PEP vote under the Adams administration, when the board voted to reject an $82 million contract to fund temporary staffing services for city schools, Ong was one of three members who abstained. (Six members have voted yes, and five voted no.)

Ong has held parent leadership positions on every rung of the city’s education system: He was a PTA president before he became president of the Community Education Council of District 26, which includes Bayside, Fresh Meadows, and Jamaica Estates. He currently serves as chief of staff to Queens State Assembly Member Nily Rozic, and previously worked as a technical account manager for Thomson Reuters, according to LinkedIn.

“Alan Ong was our relations chair,” Faulkner said at the August PEP meeting. “He really worked on bridging the gap between the panel and the community.”

Though Ong may have been “quiet” on the panel, “you know when he calls you, he’s always there to provide support,” Faulkner added.

In a statement, the Education Department said the panel plays a key role in giving a forum to parents, students and teachers. “Strong leadership is critical to that work, and we are excited for what Alan – a current Panel member with extensive experience as a parent leader and community advocate – will bring to the role,” the department said.

Ong did not respond to a request to comment.

“He obviously knows the PEP and the issues,” said David Bloomfield, education professor emeritus at Brooklyn College and The CUNY Graduate Center, “and can be expected to be a steady hand.”

The department also said that Faulkner will stay on the panel and fill the role that Ong just left.

This story has been updated to include a statement from the Education Department and additional information about Greg Faulkner.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools enrollment drops by 11,500 students

2026-09-24T19:31:29+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.

Enrollment at Chicago Public Schools continued to decline rapidly this fall, dipping by more than 11,500 students compared with last year.

The district is serving about 304,000 students on the heels of losing roughly 76,000 pupils over the past decade. Despite the drop, CPS officials said the district has reclaimed its spot as the country’s third largest from Miami-Dade, as other large urban districts across the country also are grappling with enrollment declines. “It’s like winning because somebody tripped,” CPS Superintendent Macquline King said.

The district’s small West and South Side high schools were once again some of the hardest hit by enrollment losses, according to preliminary, unofficial school-level data Chalkbeat reviewed. A handful lost more than a fifth of their enrollments compared with last year, and two of them, Spry and Douglass, are serving fewer than 40 students each.

Against that backdrop, the Chicago Teachers Union and several community nonprofits held a press conference calling for the board to extend a school closure moratorium that expires at the end of 2026-27. They argued that closing schools destabilizes neighborhoods and disproportionately affects Black students, and they pointed to recent research showing gun violence spiked in the vicinity of vacant Chicago school buildings.

Following the disruptive shuttering of 50 schools under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013 — the largest mass school closures in the country — the issue of mergers has been toxic in Chicago politics and studiously avoided by district and city leaders.

But some candidates in this fall’s historic race to elect all 21 members of the school board have spoken about a need to address declining enrollment, with input from communities and with closures on the table. Some have argued that students in many of the district’s small schools get a subpar academic and social experience at a relatively high per-pupil price tag.

CPS saw enrollment stabilize for a couple of years after the arrival of thousands of migrant families in 2022, but it started declining again last year. The student losses have resulted in a growing number of severely underenrolled schools, many of them housed in large, aging buildings — an issue that’s slated to come to a head in the coming year as the school board-imposed moratorium on closing schools expires.

Chicago’s plummeting birth rates, slowing immigration, and a massive outmigration from the city have been key drivers in CPS’s enrollment declines. The city’s falling births — which decreased by 37% between 2010 and 2023 — are poised to continue putting pressure on CPS enrollment in the coming years.

“The district is left with 135,000 plus seats with no children to put in them,” said Annise Lewis, CPS’s deputy chief education officer.

A report by the advocacy group Kids First Chicago earlier this year also found the district has lost some “market share” since the pandemic started — the portion of school-aged children whose families choose the district rather than private schools or homeschooling. That share had remained stable for years even as overall enrollment numbers slipped.

The district said its racial makeup remains largely unchanged this fall, with Latino students representing about 46% of the student body. The number of students with disabilities continued to increase, now making up more than 18% of the district’s enrollment. The portion of low-income students dipped just below 70%, though the district said decreases in low-income, homeless, and English learner students could shrink as schools are working to update demographic data.

The Lower West Side lost more than half of its student enrollment. South Lawndale, Avondale, Brighton Park, Gage Park, and McKinley Park were also hard hit. O’Hare, the Loop, and Lincoln Park saw the largest increases in enrollment.

Based on preliminary school-based data, also especially hard hit were former Acero schools and Chicago Arts High School — formerly privately run public schools that the district absorbed to avert their closure. All but one Acero school lost significant enrollment, with Cisneros losing almost a third of its students.

A principal at a high-needs neighborhood high school said the campus welcomed its smallest freshman class ever this fall, significantly below what it had projected. The principal, who spoke anonymously because CPS hadn’t authorized an interview, said the school has pushed hard to get the word out about recent academic growth and persuade nearby elementary campuses to stop steering their students away.

“At some point, you just don’t have enough kids to provide a full, well-rounded education and a joyful environment,” the principal said. “More money is not the answer.”

That school leader said district leaders should consider policy changes such as limiting the number of students neighborhood high schools can poach from each other.

At the press conference, union and nonprofit leaders said they are circulating a pledge for school board candidates that if signed, means they would oppose any school closings. Hilario Dominguez, the union-backed candidate for school board president, tried to get his opponents to sign the document during a Wednesday evening debate hosted by FOX32.

Speakers at the Thursday event argued that very small schools can offer a robust, personalized learning experience and can grow their enrollments if the district invests more money. They pointed to Dyett High School, which reopened in 2016 after community leaders went on a hunger strike and has since grown its student numbers, adding another roughly 30 students this fall.

Board member Karen Zaccor, who is running to keep her North Side seat, said she bristles when she hears school board candidates say they won’t close school before engaging local communities — what she called “closings lite.”

“You’re still out there to tell them, ‘Well, we’re going to close your schools. We’ll just talk to you first,’” she said.

Vicki Kurzydlo, the CTU’s recording secretary, told the board historical disinvestment has driven enrollment losses. One solution is continuing to expand the Sustainable Community Schools program, a partnership with the teachers union in which schools, including Dyett, receive an added $500,000 a year each to team up with community nonprofits and expand support services.

Overall, the 20 schools that piloted the program starting in 2018 have seen a steeper drop in enrollment than the district overall, losing almost a fifth of their combined enrollment as of last school year.

King told the board the shrinking district must “evolve,” without going into more detail.

“We have to listen to the students,” she said. “We have to deal with that’s before us, and we have to make decisions.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Philadelphia school board delays sharing details about charter school evaluation overhaul

2026-09-24T19:03:03+00:00

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The Philadelphia Board of Education is in the midst of a yearslong process to overhaul how it evaluates charter schools. But amid rising legal tensions between the charters and the board, it’s gone silent on the details.

The board’s charter evaluation framework is largely how the board holds charter schools accountable for meeting certain academic and operational standards. It’s a bureaucratic process that has high stakes: If a school doesn’t meet standards, the board can begin the process of closing it.

The board first planned to share details about the new evaluation process, called “Project RiSE,” in June, but delayed the release to this month’s board meeting, scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

However, Peng Chao, the head of the board’s Charter School Office, wrote in an email to charter leaders earlier this week that “because of various ongoing legal matters, we are not currently able to provide updates.”

Chao did not detail the legal matters he is referring to. However, several charter schools are currently suing the district over nonrenewals and the current evaluation framework in cases that have lasted months or years. Some charter leaders say the further delay in sharing information creates only more frustration with a process that has become increasingly opaque.

“Transparency matters, and it is not showing up in this process,” said Cassandra St. Vil, CEO of Philadelphia Charters for Excellence, a charter school advocacy group. “We’re calling for consistency, and by no means has this been a consistent process at all.”

Board leaders initially pledged to include charter leaders’ feedback in the new evaluation process. One of the goals of the overhaul, as described on the district’s website, is “improving transparency and communication with school leaders.”

St. Vil is a member of a group formed by the Charter School Office, which includes several charter leaders and education advocates, that is meant to give feedback on the process. She said she has received little information about what the new evaluation framework will include and was under the impression that information would be shared at the Thursday board meeting until she learned of the delay earlier this week.

To St. Vil, the board’s dedication to increasing district school enrollment creates a “conflict of interest” in its role overseeing charter schools, which compete for the same students. The failure to keep charter leaders informed about the new evaluation process perpetuates that concern, she said.

“If they’re doing this to improve what we currently have, they’re making the same exact errors again,” she said.

Chao said in the letter to charter leaders that work on the new evaluation process remains underway. He and a representative from the Board of Education did not respond to questions about when updates could be expected.

The district’s website states that the preliminary implementation of the new charter evaluation framework is expected during the 2027-28 school year.