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A former New York City schools chief is one of the two finalists for the job of Chicago Public Schools’ next CEO, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Meisha Ross Porter, who led New York City Public Schools in 2021, will interview with Chicago Board of Education members, a community panel, and the mayor next week.
Chicago’s selection will mark the first time its new 21-member school board chooses a new leader for the nation’s fourth largest school district. Earlier this week, WBEZ reported that the current interim CEO Macquline King was no longer in the running for the top job. Chalkbeat could not confirm the identity of the other finalist.
Porter spent more than two decades working in New York City’s public schools, rising up the ranks as a teacher, principal, and high-level administrator. She ultimately became the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest school system in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic after her predecessor abruptly stepped down.
She only spent 10 months at the helm of New York City’s public schools, appointed in March 2021 and replaced when Mayor Bill de Blasio left office at the end of the year.
In her short tenure, Porter oversaw two sweeping but late-breaking policy pushes under de Blasio that were subsequently scrapped by Mayor Eric Adams: a plan to eliminate separate gifted and talented classes and a $200 million proposed universal curriculum.
Porter is widely respected by many education leaders in New York and has also been floated as a possible schools chief for incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani has said he is also considering current Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos for the role.
Porter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden nor the school board’s chief of staff returned requests for comment.
After leaving her post as New York City’s schools chief, Porter became the president and CEO of the Bronx Community Foundation. The foundation was set up to help finance other local nonprofits, but was in turmoil during her time there. It failed to distribute most of the money it raised from 2019 to 2023 and spent more on consultants and overhead than charitable giving, according to an investigation by the news organization New York Focus. In 2024, the organization’s board of directors fired Porter.
More recently, Porter has served as a visiting senior fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation, an organization that works with school leaders and families, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The Chicago Board of Education is scheduled to meet Monday for a special meeting during which they plan to interview the two finalists in person, WBEZ reported this week. The board plans to reconvene later in the week to make a final pick, board member Jessica Biggs told WBEZ. The full 21-member board could then vote on a final contract with the new leader at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 3.
Chicago began its process to find a new leader in March, hiring the search firm Alma Advisory Group, an executive search firm known for its work helping school boards hire superintendents.
The previous CPS CEO Pedro Martinez was fired without cause in late December 2024, but remained at the helm of the district until late June. Martinez, who made about $360,000 annually as head of CPS, clashed with Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer, over how to handle the district’s finances. The tensions at one point led to Johnson’s entire seven-member appointed board resigning en masse.
For the past 30 years under mayoral control, CPS’s leader has been chosen by the city’s mayor.
Earlier this year, a key lawmaker who helped pave the way for an elected school board raised the possibility that the mayor should still get the final say on who runs CPS. Legal experts and local officials disagree on whether that is still the case and the language in state law is murky. Nevertheless, Johnson is expected to interview both finalists next week, according to a source close to the search process. He also maintains significant influence over the school board given that 11 of 21 members are his appointees.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates criticized the secrecy surrounding the finalists and the “hand-picked panel” of community members being asked for input, calling it “a fundamental failure of the democratic values this new process was meant to uphold.”
“Black and Brown students and their families will bear the brunt of this decision,” Davis Gates said. “Their voices must be at the center of this process, not excluded from it.”
Dwayne Truss, a member of the West Side branch of the NAACP, said the group is upset that King has been eliminated as a finalist.
Truss, a former member of the Board of Education, said the current board should be prioritizing a local candidate. He pointed to former “outsider” CEOs, including Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who was convicted of receiving bribes during her time at Chicago Public Schools, as failing to be successful.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
Alex Zimmerman is a 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.
