Hyde Park Herald: Jessica Biggs launches bid for school board president

This story was originally published by Hyde Park Herald.

Max Blaisdell, staff writer, Hyde Park Herald

April 24, 2026 Updated April 27, 2026

Jessica Biggs, one of the first elected members of the Chicago Board of Education, has launched her campaign for board president, saying the district is “at a crossroads” and needs to refocus on academics and fiscal stability after years of political infighting.

“We’ve spent a lot of time the last couple of years in what feels like a political tug of war, and I think Chicago is tired of that,” Biggs told the Herald. “I want to see the district returning to a focus on teaching and learning and academic achievement.”

Biggs pointed to a string of high-profile battles between elected members of the board and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration as evidence of why the district needs a change in direction at the top. (The current board president, Sean Harden, was appointed by Johnson in December 2024 after his previous pick, Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson, resigned one week into his term over past antisemitic and misogynist social media posts.) 

She cited the December 2024 firing of former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez by a Johnson-appointed board and repeated clashes over whether to saddle the district with a high-interest loan to make a pension payment to the city last summer. Biggs also pointed to City Hall interference in the search for a permanent school superintendent, saying the board became mired in “petty politics” during her year-plus in office. 

In one recent quarter, she claimed, the board spent only 4% of its time discussing student outcomes.

“I am eager for a fully elected body where all members are really working to be accountable to various constituencies across the city,” Biggs said. “And actually being able to do the work as a board of setting clear goals, monitoring progress towards those goals, adjusting plans and giving feedback as we need.”

The school board hires and evaluates the CPS CEO, approves the budget, sets academic priorities for the district, opens and closes schools, signs off on contracts and decides which buildings get upgrades. The board meets at least twice a month, and members may spend more than 30 hours a month on their duties, though they are not compensated for their time. 

The race for school board president is a citywide contest. This year’s election will be the first time all 21 board members are chosen by voters. In 2024, only 10 seats were up for election; the rest, including the board president, were appointed by the mayor. The fully elected board will take office after the November election.

Biggs, who represents the 6th District on the board, is one of three candidates who have announced bids for board president so far. The two others circulating nominating petitions are current board member Jennifer Custer, who represents District 1B on the Northwest Side, and Sendhil Revuluri, who was vice president of the board during the Lightfoot administration. 

Candidates for school board president need 2,500 valid signatures from registered Chicago voters to appear on the November ballot. Biggs said her campaign has already surpassed that threshold.

Biggs, who lives in Bronzeville, was elected to the 6th District seat in November 2024 with nearly 45% of the vote. The district spans neighborhoods from the South Loop and Bronzeville to Hyde Park, Washington Park and Woodlawn.

A former CPS special education teacher and principal who holds a master’s degree from Harvard University, Biggs spent several years as principal at Edmund Burke Elementary School in Washington Park before her controversial firing in 2018. 

CPS told the Herald in 2024 that Biggs was fired after an inspector general investigation into the school’s attendance practices. Biggs and supporters argued the move was retaliation for her vocal criticism of Aramark, the district’s custodial contractor, and delays in funding for special education services at the school.

Asked about her proudest accomplishment on the board so far, Biggs touted leading the search process for the permanent superintendent position, which ultimately resulted in the near-unanimous selection of Dr. Macquline King, who had held the interim role since Martinez was ousted. The process included 11 community engagement sessions across every school board district in the city, she said, as well as 70 stakeholder focus groups and a survey of more than 1,400 residents. 

Biggs said she also played a central role in securing the majority coalition that passed last August’s $10.2 billion budget. The board voted 12-to-7 to approve a budget plan that closed the district’s $734 million deficit without a high-interest loan and without making a $175 million pension reimbursement to the city, two things that Johnson had pushed for. 

Securing passage of that budget required winning over both the Service Employees International Union, which represents district support staff, and the business community, Biggs said. It also required fending off pressure to oppose it from the mayor’s office and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Looking ahead, Biggs said the district’s perennial budget deficits, which are projected to be more than $500 million over each of the next four years, require a multi-pronged approach. On the revenue side, she called for a closer partnership with Springfield to secure reimbursement for “mandated categoricals” — state-required services, such as special education, transportation and school meals, for which she said CPS is currently reimbursed only a fraction of its actual costs. 

Biggs also called for Springfield to provide more funding through the state’s evidence-based school funding formula, which allocates money to districts based on student need. 

“The state has really slowed down the plan to ramp up funding into the formula, and we need to get back on track,” she said. 

Under the state formula, CPS has about 73% of what it needs to be “adequately” funded, down from 81% two years ago. Illinois once aimed to get districts to 90% by 2027, but that may prove illusory given the state’s projected $2.2 billion deficit.

So far, Biggs has picked up endorsements from former CPS CEO Dr. Janice Jackson, Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), Cook County Commissioner Bill Lowry (D-3rd), State Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-3rd) and board members Che “Rhymefest” Smith (10A), Carlos Rivas Jr. (3B) and Therese Boyle (9B), among others.

“I’ve been an advocate for CPS kids and families for two decades, and on the board, I have worked to be a bridge builder that brings people together to make progress for our school communities, even amid the chaotic circumstances of recent years,” Biggs said. “As president, I will focus on what matters — fighting to make sure every Chicago kid has access to a great school in their neighborhood.”