Meet Therese Boyle, candidate for the Chicago school board’s 9th 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?*
In my professional experience, student outcomes improve when class size is smaller and small group instruction yields the best results when providing specific reading and math interventions. I support a systematic approach to teaching word structure for decoding and encoding words. I believe math fact fluency supports math problem solving skills. Student achievement will improve if the district can attract and retain teachers in hard-to-staff schools. Achievement gaps for our Black students lag behind other demographic groups. Our school board established a Black Student Achievement Committee (BSAC) within the board to address achievement gaps. I support giving the African American community a strong voice in the selection of the BSAC. Finally, students with significant mental health needs typically perform poorly academically and have poor attendance. An effort has been made over the past 10 years to increase the number of counselors/clinicians in schools, but more support is needed.
Do you support standardized testing more than once a year?
No. Standardized testing has a place in education: to guide instruction and give insight into student progress. Standardized assessment becomes a problem when it takes away time that would otherwise be spent on instruction! CPS has made progress in assessment practices by turning down the pressure and impact of standardized testing on students. Assessments like the STAR assessment, are low stakes and voted on as part of a school’s yearly assessment plan. CPS has also uncoupled test data from promotion criteria, so it is no longer punitive in nature. Illinois requires the IAR, a standardized assessment, for grades 3-8.
Do you support requiring all schools to select from a certain curriculum authorized by the board of education?
No. I believe in the professional capacity of teachers. Teachers should be entrusted to develop lessons and unit plans responsive to the students they teach and the communities they serve. Principals, as instructional leaders, should guide the planning that teachers engage in and support the efforts and passions that teachers bring to their teaching. Skyline, the current district standardized curriculum, ranges in quality across subject areas. CPS is attempting to be responsive through revisions to make Skyline more robust and engaging, but it still isn’t quite the tool it needs to be. Skyline should be an option for teachers to support planning.
Chicago Public Schools has consistently fallen short when it comes to serving students with disabilities. What would you do to improve special education?
I am a school psychologist with extensive knowledge and experience related to the provision of special education in CPS. If elected, I would like to serve on the Special Education Advisory Committee and contribute to the work of prioritizing the needs of students with disabilities. I will listen to the concerns of parents of students with disabilities. I will listen to the students with disabilities. I will listen to the educators and administrators who serve students with disabilities. If requested, I will make school visits. I spent 27 years serving students with disabilities as a school psychologist; improving special education will be a priority for me as a board member.
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. Relying on property tax increases as the only solution to balance school funding is not a well-thought plan. In Chicago, property taxes are becoming burdensome for families due to the 5% annual increase (In FY24, it was a 6.2% increase) in the Chicago Public Schools tax levy. Currently, property taxes fund about half of the CPS operating revenue. CPS needs a long-term financial plan that does not rely on borrowing each year; too much of our CPS budget goes to paying down our current debt load of $9.3 billion. Perhaps legislation is needed to provide new revenues.
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?*
To start, an independent audit of CPS finances would seem to be best practice in view of an entirely new 21-member board being seated in Jan. 2025. Operational audits are often done when key personnel leave or when new management takes over an entity. The new board will want to assess how things are done and whether resources are being used efficiently. An external audit may help build public trust and assist board members in determining whether current CPS processes are in compliance with best financial practices. We need to engage all our elected officials to get more funding. It will be important for board members to think about motivating community partners such as business leaders, foundations, nonprofits, and universities to support CPS with funding initiatives. We must be able to present the data that convinces our governing bodies and external partners that CPS is spending and budgeting responsibly.
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 & No. Every CPS school should be funded in a way to provide a high-quality public education to all students. The future of selective enrollment schools is a top concern among District 9 parents. Many families in District 9 have had great experiences with both SE and magnet cluster schools and want the board to continue to offer these options. I also talked to parents whose children attend neighborhood schools that have suffered declining enrollment, staff loss and losses of programs due to student-based budgeting practices. I am hopeful that CPS’ new Opportunity Index funding will bring much-needed support to neighborhood 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?*
Parents in District 9 told me they’ve had great experiences with both selective enrollment and other specialized programs — and they expressed a desire for the board to continue to offer these options for families. District 9 is currently home to two SE High Schools, a regional gifted program — as well as magnet cluster schools, International Baccalaureate Programs, STEM programs, fine & performing arts programs and montessori programs. There is fear that these programs will not be able to survive if the board shifts to providing more funding to neighborhood schools. Balancing the needs of our highly regarded CPS selective enrollment schools and other specialized schools programming with those of our declining neighborhood schools will be one of the most challenging tasks the newly elected school board will tackle in light of the growing budget deficits that have been predicted for the next five years.
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?
No. I am not a particular proponent of charter schools. I worked as a CPS school psychologist assigned to charter schools and had concerns about the charters being able to serve students with disabilities. However, Illinois School Code (105 ILCS 5/27A-5) is a law that authorizes charter schools to operate in Illinois and in Chicago; and until that law is changed, as an elected board member, I would give fair and equal consideration to the Chicago public students enrolled in our charter schools.
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?*
I consider myself to be a community-backed candidate running to represent the constituents of District 9. I am not being funded by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, the Chicago Teachers Union or any other special interest group. I promise to listen and respond to the concerns presented by all stakeholders: Chicago voters, parent groups, school administrators, educators, students, community agencies, charter school advocates and the CTU. I will keep the lines of communication open and encourage participation. I will do the reading and the research. I will make informed decisions. My decisions will be made based on my experience as an educator, my knowledge of trauma-informed practices, my financial background and my reading and research. My decisions will reflect my commitment to: ethics, education law, labor law and financial oversight. I will do what is best for children.
Police in schools
Do you support having sworn Chicago Police Department officers stationed in schools?
Yes. I believe the hiring of School Resource Officers (SRO’s) should be a local school decision. The Local School Council (LSC) is responsible for approving the Continuous Improvement Work Plan (CIWP) and the school’s budget. If a school’s LSC approves spending money for an SRO position, it would seem that approval is appropriately within the power of the LSC. I believe that SRO’s that work in schools should be provided with the same social-emotional training that school teachers and staff receive.
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?
No. I support providing transportation stipends or bus/train passes to those students attending selective enrollment and magnet schools. CPS’ abrupt decision to cancel busing for students in magnet and SE schools caused distress for families during the 2023-2024 school year. Students impacted were from low-income families for whom paying for transportation was a financial burden. CPS wouldn’t offer stipends in lieu of busing. I watched the CPS budget hearing on July 16 and a CPS Parents for Buses speaker noted that CPS spent $16 million more on busing during 2023-2024 despite not providing busing to the students attending magnet and selective enrollment schools???
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. Closing schools is the toughest decision for a school district, a decision that is facing districts across the country due to declining enrollment and limited resources. CPS predicts huge budget deficits for the next five years; we cannot sustain severely under-enrolled schools. CPS needs to do better than they did in 2013 when considering school closures. If there is consideration to close schools after 2027, CPS must address closures in a thoughtful, thorough and systematic way. Gather facts and data. Fully engage school communities. Conduct an equity analysis. CPS decisions around school closures must be equitable and cost-effective.
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 has not been able to meet the needs of the thousands of bilingual students who have arrived in Chicago over the past two years. The district served 10,000 more English learners in FY24 than in FY23. CPS has 88,000 English learners (27% of CPS students). Transitional Bilingual Education is required by Illinois law at schools that enroll 20 or more students with the same language background. Schools are also required to provide instruction of English as a second language (ESL). Although many CPS teachers now have ESL endorsements, we do not have enough teachers with a bilingual endorsement. CPS could support bilingual students and come into compliance with state/federal laws if CPS subsidized the cost for teachers who seek to obtain ESL and bilingual teaching endorsements. CPS should continue using the Teacher Residency program to attract career changers and train them to become bilingual teachers.
Top local issue
Please share one issue that’s a top concern for your community or your larger elected school board voting district.
CPS has difficulty attracting and retaining school administrators, teachers, clinicians and PSRP staff. Schools with principal vacancies may only get two applicants for the position. Special education vacancies are especially hard to fill. Staff turnover and persistent vacancies hit our “hard-to-staff” schools at higher rates. I spent most of my career working in hard-to-staff schools. These schools often start the school year with vacant positions. Imagine no kindergarten teacher to greet students on the first day? It was not uncommon to see a teacher walking to her car with boxes on a random Wednesday morning in the middle of the school year because the teacher decided to quit. It’s also difficult to attract guest teachers (substitutes) to work in hard-to-staff schools.