Jessica Biggs has declared victory in her historic bid to become Chicago’s first-ever elected Board of Education president.
With more than 86% of precincts reporting, Biggs held a lead of nearly 20 percentage points over fellow candidate Hilario Dominguez, according to unofficial results.
“This is a victory for everyone who wants a great public school in every community,” Biggs said in a speech to supporters Tuesday night. “I have been to every corner of our city. … Families are tired of chaos and uncertainty. They want stability, and they want this board to turn its focus back to our students. They want schools they can trust, teachers who are supported and leaders who put kids first.”
Biggs, a current board member, jumped to a commanding lead as votes began to be tabulated and that support held all night. With 86% of precincts reporting, she had 49% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Dominguez, a former Chicago Teachers Union political director, drew 30.6% of the vote and trial attorney Victor Henderson trailed at 17.7%, according to unofficial returns.
The winner will be tasked with leading the city’s first fully elected Board of Education.
“Starting in January, this new, fully elected board will answer to the people of Chicago,” Biggs said. "And I will never forget who I work for.”
Former board vice president Sendhil Revuluri also appeared on Tuesday’s ballots and has managed to gain 2.7% of votes, but he previously dropped out of the race.
Biggs, a former CPS teacher and principal, has campaigned on a five-year plan she said will improve the cash-strapped district’s financial footing, aiming to improve its credit rating and boost cash reserves.
“No single actor — not CPS, not City Hall, not Springfield — can solve this deficit alone,” she said in a statement Tuesday. “I’ll convene City and State partners around a shared multi-year financial plan with clear accountability. We need to show legislators in Springfield that CPS can spend responsibly if we’re going to convince them to invest more.”
Biggs’ campaign raised more than $1.8 million from around 400 donors, her campaign announced Tuesday, but Dominguez, the CTU and others have criticized her for hundreds of thousands of dollars from billionaire Michael Sacks.
The union has derided those backed by Sacks as “billionaire-backed puppets” who they say plan on closing schools.
A district moratorium on school closings ends after the current school year, and Biggs has expressed an openness to future closures as CPS enrollment continues to fall.
While she said she opposes the “top down, mass closure” carried out in 2013 when CPS and the city shut down 50 schools, Biggs has said there needs to be “deep conversations” with communities, and it’s the board’s job to support the “desires and the needs communities express.”
Dominguez is the only candidate who fully opposes any school closures.
“Imagine a world where our schools can serve both the needs of the community and our students,” Dominguez said at a WTTW News forum in September. “That’s why we don’t close schools, but instead we invest in them.”
The CTU-backed Dominguez has focused his campaign on securing desperately needed state funding for CPS, expanding universal full day pre-K and improving the school day with healthier lunches, youth jobs programs and investments in sustainable community schools.
“We didn’t fight for so long for an elected school board for mayoral control to become billionaire control,” Dominguez said in a statement. “Our school communities deserve a voice, a fully funded quality school within walking distance of their home, and candidates who will be public school champions who are independent from billionaire interests.”
Henderson has said he’s neither in favor nor opposed to the idea of school closures, but said instead that the district and board should speak with community members to hear what they think is the best course of action.
Henderson has portrayed himself as an outsider in this race. He serves on the board for the Urban Prep Academies charter schools. He’s said the single most important thing the board and CPS as a whole must focus on is educating children properly.
All three candidates faced controversy on the campaign trail ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Henderson in August was accused of “several violent and abusive incidents” against his own children stemming from years-old divorce proceedings involving his former wife.
He has denied any wrongdoing, noting he was never arrested or charged with any crime. During WTTW News’ candidate forum in September, Henderson claimed the allegations were brought forth by one of his fellow candidates in an effort to “drag me through the mud.”
Biggs was terminated as principal of Edmund Burke Elementary in 2018 and subsequently given a “do-not-hire” designation by CPS amid allegations that she’d altered attendance data and didn’t collect student transportation paperwork properly.
She later appealed and that designation was removed. Biggs previously said she stands by her record as principal and claimed her firing came at a time when she was speaking out about the denial of services for students with disabilities.
But the biggest campaign bombshell came in early October when the CPS inspector general’s office reopened an investigation into nearly decade-old allegations that Dominguez acted inappropriately with a minor high school student.
Dominguez repeatedly maintained his innocence, saying he’d previously been cleared in three separate investigations into the allegations. CPS Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht subsequently closed the infestation weeks later, concluding there was “no actionable finding of sexual misconduct,” but the news put Dominguez on the defensive weeks ahead of the election.
Wagenknecht defended the investigation, saying it was “in no way … rushed or concluded prematurely,” while his office stated that the election itself “was not a factor in the OIG’s decision to reopen this case.”
Patty Wetli contributed to this report.
