Jessica Biggs
Chicago Board of Education President, on the Chicago ballot November 3, 2026.
Campaign site (biggs4chicago.com)
Running on
Biggs says her top priorities as board president would be stabilizing the district's finances and helping the new 21-member board work together effectively after what she calls years of political infighting. She wants the board to set clear academic goals and measure progress, particularly on reading proficiency, and to hold district leadership accountable for results. She has also said she wants to address enrollment inequities by evaluating how families access kindergarten and high school programs. At a WTTW forum in September 2026 she called for a "five-year financial recovery plan" and said decisions about school closures should follow "deep conversations" with communities, while opposing a "top down, mass closure" like the one in 2013.
Background
Former Chicago Public Schools principal at Burke Elementary and a community organizer who directs Healthy Southwest, a health equity initiative of the Southwest Organizing Project. She was elected to the school board in 2024 representing parts of downtown and the South Side.
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