Who will be the next Chicago school board president? Meet the candidates

Chicago Tribune on Aug 18, 2026

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CHICAGO — In a historic first for Chicago, all 21 school board seats will be on the November ballot. The board was previously composed of seven mayoral appointees, but is currently in a two-year transition period, split between 10 elected and 11 appointed members.

Get to know the candidates for school board president.

Jessica Biggs

Jessica Biggs, an elected school board member representing parts of downtown and the South Side, announced in April she is running for president of the Chicago Board of Education.

In an interview with the Tribune, Biggs — a director of the Southwest Organizing Project and a former Chicago Public Schools principal — said her top priority as president would be to stabilize the district’s financial footing and help the new board work together collaboratively and effectively.

“We spent a lot of the last year, probably two years, in a political back-and-forth, and it feels like Chicago deserves to get back to a focus on teaching and learning, students, school improvement,” Biggs said. “I really think I’m the right person to help us do that.”

Jennifer Custer

In the lead-up to CPS’s May 1 “day of civic action,” one school board member emerged as a particularly vocal critic, arguing repeatedly that the initiative sowed confusion among families and posed logistical challenges for the district.

Jennifer Custer, who represents parts of the Northwest Side, was elected with the support of the Chicago Teachers Union in 2024. But she has frequently broken with the union in key votes, a divide that has become more pronounced in recent months as elections approach.

Custer announced in March that she is running for school board president.

“Throughout this year-and-a-half process, there’s been so many times that I reflected on, ‘What if we did that differently?’” said Custer, who represents District 1B. “I think that I can set this board up for success in the future.”

Hilario Domínguez

Chicago Teachers Union political director Hilario Domínguez announced in May that he is running for school board president, joining a crowded field vying to lead the governing body of the nation’s fourth-largest school district.

Domínguez, a former special education teacher, was the fifth candidate to enter the race for the citywide role.

The announcement capped months of speculation over who the politically powerful CTU might put forward as a presidential candidate. A longtime CTU organizer and strategist, Domínguez played a key role in mobilizing the union and its allies around Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2023 campaign.

In an interview with the Tribune, Domínguez said his focus as board president would be to insulate CPS from cuts and press state legislators for additional funding. Last month, the school board approved a $10.11 billion budget that counts on $150 million in additional state funding.

Victor Henderson

Why does a big-shot trial lawyer want an unpaid gig leading Chicago’s school board?

Victor Henderson, a longtime white-collar civil litigation attorney, points to his time on the board of Urban Prep Academies. The troubled charter school network was on the brink of closure in 2023 amid allegations of financial mismanagement and sexual misconduct.

But Henderson said he saw another side of Urban Prep, which primarily serves Black boys at two South Side high schools. One student, he recalls, told him his school “saved his life.” He stood alongside other Black business and civic leaders at a press conference calling on City Hall to step in.

“I asked administrators, ‘Wasn’t there somebody at (Chicago Public Schools) who they could talk to to try to work things out?’ They told me no,” Henderson said.

“I didn’t understand any of it,” he went on. “I think it’s just emblematic of how there’s too much politics in the system. There’s too much talk of City Hall and who supports the mayor, and not nearly enough talk of study hall.”

Sendhil Revuluri

Nearly three years after leaving his post as Chicago Board of Education vice president, former teacher and CPS parent Sendhil Revuluri is vying to return, announcing his candidacy in October for school board president.

If victorious in the November 2026 election, he aims to unite the board behind a common goal: making sure the children of Chicago are learning, Revuluri said in an interview with the Tribune ahead of his campaign announcement.

“There is a massive consensus across Chicago, in every neighborhood, across different identities, different affiliations, that we want our students to learn as much as they can, because that’s how we give them opportunity in the future,” he said. “That’s how we give them choices about what they do next.”

Revuluri, 50, was the first to announce his candidacy to lead the 21-seat board in next year’s election, when voters will choose the board, replacing the current hybrid model with 10 elected members and 11 appointed by the mayor, including President Sean Harden.

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