Meet Jessica Biggs, candidate for the Chicago school board’s 6th District
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?*
As a school leader, I improved reading and math achievement by selecting rigorous curriculum, investing in time for ongoing teacher and staff professional development and planning, and consistently prioritizing collaboration. Collaborative planning and reflection around teacher practice and student data are essential to ensure lessons are responsive to student needs and foster academic growth. In order to do this at scale, we need to ensure that our schools have the funds, staff and time in teachers’ schedules to support such systems of collaboration and development that can lead to ongoing growth in student achievement.
Do you support standardized testing more than once a year?
No. Current formats of state-mandated standardized testing do not provide feedback on student progress and attainment until many months after they are administered. This does not help teachers inform instruction in meaningful ways. Diagnostic, benchmark and curriculum-based assessments that provide teachers immediate feedback on students’ strengths and needs can be tremendously helpful in guiding instruction and should be administered at logical points in curriculum and in the school year to help teachers make sound instructional decisions that support student growth.
Do you support requiring all schools to select from a certain curriculum authorized by the board of education?
Yes. It’s essential to involve teacher-leaders from across the district in collaboration with CPS central office staff to determine an appropriate array of core curriculum options authorized by the board of education. This approach ensures that curriculum options meet the diverse needs of communities across the district. Schools and networks should then have support and flexibility to choose from these options, allowing them to make curriculum decisions that best suit their local context while adhering to district-wide standards.
Chicago Public Schools has consistently fallen short when it comes to serving students with disabilities. What would you do to improve special education?
Special education teachers and staff are consistently in short supply. We cannot improve our delivery of special education services or instruction without strong, committed staff in these roles. First, I support providing signing bonuses for qualified teachers and staff who take on these roles in CPS. Additionally, I support reducing barriers to licensure, and I fully support stipended residency programs for current CPS staff pursuing licensure who commit to stepping into these roles following graduation. District support specialists need to work with families of special education students to act as their advocates and not as adversaries. Again, to do this, we need to ensure these roles are adequately staffed so that district support specialists have ample time to build the relationships with families necessary to act in partnership.
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. Instead of continuing to support increases in property taxes, CPS and the board of education should continue to work with elected officials in Springfield to ensure that the state’s evidence-based funding formula is fully funded and that CPS students receive their fair share of funding through this formula.
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?*
The state’s evidence-based funding formula currently underfunds CPS. I believe that the board needs to continue to work with elected officials in Springfield to determine how to guarantee that CPS receives what is owed through the formula.
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?
Yes. HOWEVER, we cannot underfund our district’s magnet and selective enrollment schools in order to adequately and equitably fund our neighborhood schools. For far too long, neighborhood schools that serve predominantly Black and brown students have been inadequately funded. I support the current decision to move away from per-pupil funding and return to a core funding model that ensures every school has the core and necessary staff to support its student body and provide a full range of “specials” or enrichment programming, including those specials unique to specialty and magnet schools.
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?*
I support the use of CPS’ Opportunity Index to ensure that all of our schools are adequately and equitably funded. However, with any new blanket formula we need to investigate the impact of its implementation to ensure that no students are left out. Metrics need to be added to ensure that specialty programming is available where schools or communities seek it. Strong schools mean strong communities and every neighborhood in Chicago deserves a strong school.
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. HOWEVER, I am not in support of opening any additional charters or maintaining any charters that have shown to be consistently underperforming. Additionally, I do not support diverting any additional public funds to further charter growth. We have a responsibility to support our students who currently attend charter and contract schools, and we must not disrupt the education of students who are currently enrolled.
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 campaign is an independent campaign. I have not received contributions from either the CTU or the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. Instead, our donors are hundreds of parents, educators, health care practitioners, nonprofit professionals and everyday people. I will maintain this mode of operation as an elected member of our board.
Police in schools
Do you support having sworn Chicago Police Department officers stationed in schools?
No. The culture of our schools need to reflect care, joy, community and safety. We don’t do this by policing our students but rather through thoughtful facilitation of relationship building between students and between staff and students. Building and sustaining these relationships requires adequate resources. Each school should be equipped with a counselor, a social worker, along with a restorative justice or school culture coordinator to meaningfully support students’ wellbeing.
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. I believe we must first route bus service for students with disabilities. I also believe we have to do more to hire bus drivers so that routes can also be provided for general education students. I believe some policy options to achieve this end are funding commercial driver’s licensure, offering signing bonuses and making sure that wages for CPS bus drivers are competitive with those in the surrounding suburbs.
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?
No. Our city is still reeling from the impact of the 2013 closures. Not only did closing schools not create the hoped for savings, but student outcomes suffered profoundly. We need to work with school communities to determine the best use of under-utilized spaces. There is tremendous opportunity to co-locate health centers, community-based organizations and the like in school spaces not used for classrooms. These co-locations can work to build our schools as true community anchors that bring needed resources to communities at large.
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?
To do this, I support funding the coursework needed to achieve bilingual certification, and offering test-in opportunities for multilingual speakers. This would allow people to achieve temporary licensure more quickly as they work toward more permanent certification. Additionally, we have many parents who are bilingual speakers; we should consider ways to hire them in support roles to supplement core bilingual instruction.
Top local issue
Please share one issue that’s a top concern for your community or your larger elected school board voting district.
The Greater Bronzeville Community Action Council (GBCAC), which represents a large portion of District 6, has collaborated with Bright Star Community Outreach and the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work Policy & Practice to develop a community action plan for education. Informed by relevant data and input from principals, teachers, students, parents, and community members, this plan aims to improve educational outcomes by addressing key concerns such as student achievement, school culture and climate, and overall mental health and well-being. I look forward to working with the GBCAC and all its stakeholders to implement this data-informed, community-driven plan.