Academics
About 31% of Chicago Public Schools elementary students are meeting state standards in reading, and 19% are meeting math standards. How would you approach growing reading and math achievement?*
I think we have to look at what we are doing well and try and replicate it. In addition, I would have CPS look at what other school systems are doing to improve their reading and math scores at a local and national level. The Defense Department has run schools that educate 66,000 children of civilian employees and service members and have seen a huge success and the state of Massachusetts seems to be producing strong results as well. These are just two examples of many more that exist for us to examine.
Do you support standardized testing more than once a year?
Yes. Standardized testing should be used as one of the measures for determining learning. Seeing where students are at when they begin school year and at the end of the school year to see how much they have learned from the curriculum over the course of the year.
Do you support requiring all schools to select from a certain curriculum authorized by the board of education?
No. I believe that there should be one overarching curriculum that should be used by CPS. The curriculum decision should be determined based on the needs of the diverse set of learners that attend the various types of CPS schools. That means before any decision is made to purchase a curriculum there should be the buy-in of the end user the teachers and educators, who are tasked with using and implementing the curriculum on a daily basis. That means creating user groups to test the product before it goes live in the classroom.
Chicago Public Schools has consistently fallen short when it comes to serving students with disabilities. What would you do to improve special education?
1) Making sure CPS is investing the proper resources into the department.
2) Making sure that CPS is drawing down all allowable federal/state dollars that are allocated to serve students with disabilities.
3) Making sure that CPS is partnering with local nonprofits, government entities and health care systems that serve students with disabilities that might have resources to provide the school, students and family. This will allow for a better coordination of care and service to the student.
CPS finances
In recent years, Chicago’s Board of Education has consistently raised the property tax levy to the maximum allowed by state law every year. Should the board continue to raise the levy to the maximum?
No. The Chicago Board of Education has to do a better job of reviewing, approving and appropriating revenue and expenses. That means creating contracts that are mutually beneficial to the school district, taxpayers and whoever the payee is, from contracted services to vendor management to independent contractors and labor contracts. We have to find a better way of funding schools without constantly relying on tax increases, from maximizing space to looking at operational inefficiencies/redundancies to contracted cost-savings to looking for other funding.
Do you think CPS needs more funding, or do you think the school district’s budget is bloated? How would you balance the CPS budget?*
I think that on paper $9 billion dollars should be enough to support CPS and one of the first things that I want to do when elected is conduct a comprehensive review of the budget from a revenue and expense perspective. Making sure that the revenue and expenses align and look for redundancies that might lead to cost savings or areas of financial improvement. Additionally, I want to work with our local elected officials and superintendent at the federal and state level to ensure that CPS is maximizing and taking advantage of all the federal and state dollars that are available to them in each government agency.
School choice
Do you support the current board of education’s decision to prioritize neighborhood schools and shift away from the current system of school choice with selective enrollment, magnet and charter schools?
No. Instead of eliminating options for students, parents and communities, we should be doubling down our investment and creating more opportunities for them to succeed. It’s a policy decision that is shifting resources from schools that have healthy enrollment numbers to schools that have less than 100 students attending the school. In District 8 our schools have lost millions of dollars with this decision.
Given the board of education’s decision to prioritize neighborhood schools, how would you balance supporting those schools without undermining the city’s selective enrollment schools and other specialized programs?*
Instead of eliminating options for students, parents and communities, we should be doubling down our investment and creating more opportunities for them to succeed. It means finding a funding formula that does not take money away from one school to give to another. In District 8 schools have lost millions of dollars due to the new funding formula.
The first charter school opened in Chicago in 1997 and these privately run, publicly funded schools grew in number throughout the 2000s. Today, 54,000 Chicago Public Schools students, or about 17%, attend charters and contract schools. Do you support having charter schools in CPS as an option for students?
Yes. I want all CPS funded schools, from the neighborhood, selective enrollment to charter schools, to be successful because those students are our students and when they succeed, we all succeed. I support students and parents having educational options in the form of charter and contract schools as long as they are meeting the contractual requirements and performance metrics around educational attainment, enrollment, financial, etc., that have been negotiated by CPS and contractor.
Independence
If elected, how will you maintain your independence from the mayor’s office, the Chicago Teachers Union or other powerful forces shaping the school system?*
My daily focus will be on making sure that parents, students and the District 8 community that I will represent will have the best educational options available to them. My job will be to work with everyone in the District 8 to make sure we have the right type of schools and educational options for our community like the arts, trades, more full day pre-K slots for working families, etc.
Police in schools
Do you support having sworn Chicago Police Department officers stationed in schools?
Yes. I believe that Chicago Public Schools that need Chicago Police Department officers in their schools should have them. Those decisions should be made by each of the schools and their teams that include local school council, principal, administrators, teachers, parents, students and other interested community parties like elected officials. Let’s empower, train and provide the tools necessary to our school leaders, their teams and local school councils to help make local school decisions like security and the use of law enforcement officers.
Busing and facilities
Last year, in an effort to prioritize transportation for students with disabilities as required by state and federal law, CPS canceled busing for general education students who attend selective enrollment and magnet schools and hasn’t found a solution to reinstate that service. Do you support busing for general education students?
Yes. Instead of taking away options and choices, CPS should be looking for ways to increase services for students and families that need them. I support the recommendations that CPS Parents for Buses has made which include – 1) stipend, 2) pay, benefits, and legislation for bus drivers, 3) prioritize low-income students and 4) allow paratransit companies (vans) to begin transporting Priority Group A and B students.
About one-third of Chicago public school buildings have space for at least double the students they’re currently enrolling. Chicago officials have previously viewed under-enrolled schools as an inefficient use of limited resources — and a decade ago the city closed a record 50 schools. Do you support closing schools for low enrollment?
Yes. Currently, state law prevents Chicago from closing schools until January 15, 2025. I believe that after the moratorium ends Chicago – parents, students, teachers, administrators, communities, elected officials, higher education, city colleges, businesses, nonprofits, foundations and industries will need to have a soul-searching conversation around education, space utilization, types of services and opportunities that can create new education models for meeting the needs of the students, parents, community and industry with the hopeful repurposing of schools closed.
Bilingual education
CPS has long struggled to comply with state and federal laws requiring bilingual programs at schools that enroll 20 or more students who speak a different language. The recent influx of migrant families has exacerbated the problem. What policies do you support to ensure the district is supporting bilingual students and in compliance with state and federal laws?
CPS needs to continue to work with our federal and state partners to ensure that they Invest in English learner programming with adequate and consistent financial investment. While increasing their investment in funding for bilingual educators. In addition, the district must continue to collaborate with agencies, city providers and post-secondary institutions to help meet the needs of students. Some of that help can come in the form of recruiting more bilingual teachers and aides.
Top local issue
Please share one issue that’s a top concern for your community or your larger elected school board voting district.
Lack of transparency