Mayor Lori Lightfoot is making moves to reexamine the way Chicago budgets its billions for schools, starting with a new working group tasked with leading the charge.
The working group, which will gather information from the community engagement sessions and then propose recommendations, includes several formidable players in Chicago education policy, though in some cases the members are rarely on the same side of the table.
Members of the city’s appointed school board and its teachers union are on the committee. Find the full membership below.
The plan, announced by Chicago Public Schools on Thursday, builds on a key promise from candidate Lori Lightfoot to revisit school funding and consult the public about how to do that.
Chicago’s weighted school funding formula has come under fire for unequally distributing resources between schools that advocates argue need more resources, as well as pushing schools who are losing students into a funding loss spiral that makes it difficult to recover.
Related: Change could be imminent in how Chicago approaches spending low-income students
Any proposed changes yielded from the working group proposals and community engagement process wouldn’t come in all at once, the district said. Potential changes would be implemented over a multi-part timeline.
In a shift in recent practice, the school board is also leading committees around critical issues of diversifying the teacher pipeline and early childhood education. The first meeting about workforce diversity is next week.
Along with district network chiefs, board members and members of mayoral committees, the group includes leadership of local charter networks and teachers union researchers.
Here is who’s on the list:
- Sendhil Revuluri, vice president, Chicago Board of Education
- Elizabeth Todd-Breland, member, Chicago Board of Education
- Carlos Azcoitia, former CPS principal and board member, and professor emeritus National Lewis University
- Krystal Burns, parent representative and member of the Harold Washington Elementary School Local School Council
- Bogdana Chkoumbova, chief schools officer, Chicago Public Schools
- Maureen Delgado, principal, Clinton Elementary School
- Vanessa Espinoza, parent representative and member of the Gunsaulus Elementary School LSC
- Rachel Garza Resnick, retired CPS administrator
- Kurt Hilgendorf, Chicago Teachers Union
- Pavlyn Jankov, Chicago Teachers Union
- Josh Long, principal, Southside Occupational High School
- Sybil Madison, deputy mayor for education, City of Chicago
- Matt McCabe, chief of staff and public affairs, Noble Network of Charter Schools
- Cameron Mock, chief of staff and senior fiscal adviser to the deputy governor
- Candace Moore, chief equity officer, City of Chicago
- Robin Steans, president, Advance Illinois
- Maurice Swinney, chief equity officer, Chicago Public Schools
- Ricardo Trujillo, deputy chief of Network 5, Chicago Public Schools
- Two students from the CPS Student Voice and Activism Council
- One teacher representative from the Teacher Advisory Council
The district plans to get feedback from the public through a series of meetings starting in late January. Here’s the full list of community meetings, which kick off Jan. 29, 2020:
- Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Amundsen High School, 5110 N. Damen Ave.
- Thursday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Michele Clark High School, 5101 W. Harrison St.
- Saturday, Feb. 1, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Corliss High School, 821 E. 103rd St.
- Wednesday, Feb. 5, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Hammond Elementary, 2819 W. 21st Pl.
- Thursday, Feb. 6, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Dyett High School, 555 E. 51st St.
- Saturday, Feb. 8, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Roberto Clemente High School, 1147 N. Western Ave.