New Chicago school board appears poised for even split between CTU supporters and opponents

Chicago's first fully elected school board is taking shape after Tuesday's elections, and it appears there will be an even split between members backed by the Chicago Teachers Union and those who are not.

Jessica Biggs, a current board member and former Chicago Public Schools teacher and principal, declared victory as the city's first elected school board president. While votes were still being counted Wednesday afternoon, Biggs had more than 48% of the vote. Rival candidate Hilario Dominguez had about 30% of the vote, and Victor Henderson had about 18%.

Some are calling the election a referendum on the power of the Chicago Teachers Union, which backed Dominguez, who conceded to Biggs late Tuesday night. Henderson has said he won't concede until the Chicago Board of Elections certifies the results.

It appears the remaining 20 members of the school board will be split 50/50, with 10 of the newly elected board members having been endorsed by CTU, and 10 members who were not endorsed by the union, although the votes are still being counted, with a handful of tight races.

Biggs will be tasked with running school board meetings, helping set the board's agenda, and representing the entire district. She will also have the power to vote just like other board members. The president of the current hybrid board only has the power to cast tie-breaking votes.

"She'll have to build, I think, bridges across folks with different perspectives, different political persuasions, to get things done for Chicago students," said Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago, a nonprofit CPS parent group.

At least half of the 20 other board members were endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, which ran a brutal campaign against Biggs.

"First of all, 52 percent of voters did not vote for president-elect Biggs," said CTU vice president Jackson Potter.

CTU leaders said their members will work with Biggs, as long as she's willing to work with the union on key issues.

"If she's willing to work with us around fully funding and fully staffing our schools, and making Springfield and the governor pay their own evidence-based funding formula as is required by law, then I think we can get on the same page," Potter said. "If the narrative is going to be, 'Let's close and cut schools midyear,' that will undermine the district's progress and harm students. We're going to have a fight."

We asked if that fight would mean a teachers strike, Potter said, "we're not talking about that."

"You know, we hope none of that is ever necessary," he said.

One of Biggs' top priorities will be to balance the budget. The 2026-27 Chicago Public Schools budget approved by the current board relies on $150 million in state funding that has not yet been approved or even proposed by Illinois lawmakers.

"It is very likely that, coming back in January, CPS will potentially not have the revenue that it budgeted for and will have to make some difficult decisions about whether or not it tries to borrow, potentially, to seek those funds, or will have to make cuts midyear," Woods said.

Biggs will serve a four-year term as school board president. Half of the incoming board will serve two-year terms and the other half will serve four-year terms. The seats that will be up for re-election in two years will then get four-year terms, so that half of the board is up for re-election every two years.