Student Learning Discussions Hit New Low in Q2 2026

Once again, Board Rule partnered with education researcher Adam Parrott-Sheffer to produce a quarterly report about school board deliberations and public comments to the board. (Disclosure: Adam Parrott-Sheffer objected to school board presidential candidate Victor Henderson’s signatures.)

This time, Parrott-Sheffer worked with Board Rule interns Norah D’Cruze and Isaiah Pinzino to code and categorize the comments captured in the official CPS videos of board meetings. Our methodology can be found in last quarter’s report.

In April, May and June 2026, the Chicago Board of Education devoted more than three-quarters of its public meeting time to governance issues, crowding out discussion of student learning and "adult priorities" — items unrelated to governance or learning, such as recognizing excellence. The time devoted to student learning shrank to just 3% — the smallest share since Board Rule began tracking deliberations — echoing Board Member Karen Zaccor's recent comment that the board has had little time to discuss teaching and learning.

Because public comments usually touch on many topics, that one-fifth of them — spoken or written — focused on CPS and individual school budgets signals strong interest from parents and teachers.

That raises two questions for Board Rule: Does it matter whether a comment is made in person or in writing? And does it matter that students and community members (mostly parents) tend to submit comments differently than teachers and principals do?

Our analysis shows key differences.

• Students and parents or community members were much more likely to submit written comments than spoken ones — their written share was twice their spoken share at board meetings.
• By contrast, CPS teachers and principals were more likely to speak at board meetings: Their written comments amounted to just one-third of their spoken share.

Board Rule also observed that this board is making more of an effort to follow up with speakers immediately after their remarks — although we have no way to directly observe how written comments are taken into account or addressed by board members.

What about the speaker lottery? According to the board's guidelines for public participation, speakers are chosen by a "random lottery." But the guidelines also say no one who spoke at a previous meeting can speak at the next one — meaning the pool eligible for that lottery is not truly random.  What role does that play in all of this?

More to ponder: How might the ratio of spoken/written comments change if the board held more meetings in the late afternoon/evening, potentially making it easier for students and parents to attend in person?

In Q2, School Board Members Asked Far More Critical Questions 

We asked 87 questions in the first quarter, and that nearly doubled to 161 in the second.  

The board’s critical comments tripled to 60 from 23, and the affirming ones dropped to 10 from 55. 

Strong examples of their questions about impact and learning included:

• What are we learning from the data to help improve teaching and learning across the district?
• If Skyline is our approved curriculum, why are we spending 40% of the professional learning funds on other curricula? 
• Why do we not have a way to rate the effectiveness of professional learning?  

And of affirming comments:

• The work that I&I [Innovation & Incubation] has done presenting this new rubric is commendable. 

The hard questions seem appropriately timed, since CPS released school budgets in late May and had already begun work on the district’s operating budget. The big shift from affirmations to critiques raises yet another question: Are board members raising more questions as they shift into campaign mode?

News Briefs

CPS had an eventful week of news. 

Five candidates were dropped from the ballot. That includes two incumbents. Fifty-one filed their nomination petitions in May, and dozens of objections were brought against the validity of their signatures. The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners yesterday decided the fate of 10 of these cases, with more to come at the next meeting on July 28.

• On the ballot: Jessica Biggs (P), Sendhil Revuluri (P), Daniel Basco (2b), Debby Pope (2b), and Emma Lozano (7a).
• Off the ballot: Krista Nichols Alston (10a), Marlo Barnett (9b), Rosita Chatonda (10b), Angel L. Velez (9a), and Cydney Wallace (8b). Read the full story by Isaiah Pinzino at Chalkbeat.

The school district laid off 162 central office and citywide staff last week in an attempt to close its $732 million deficit. The Chicago Tribune reported the layoffs and the estimated $18 million in savings. The district's proposed budget is to be released later in the week and is expected to feature additional spending cuts. The district already released school-level budgets in May with cuts to teaching staff. Officials have proposed cutting at least another $105 million.

The CTU has announced its endorsements in the school board races. With 15 candidates in an election for 21 seats, their majority on the board might not hold.

The SEIU also announced its endorsements for the board.
Most are the same as the CTU chose. Here are the exceptions:

• In 3B, SEIU endorsed incumbent Carlos Rivas. CTU chose his opponent, Jason Dones, who ran in 2024 with CTU's endorsement and lost.
• In 4A, CTU endorsed incumbent Karen Zaccor, who ran for the 4th last time, lost and was appointed to the board by Mayor Brandon Johnson. SEIU favors a challenger, Ellen Sherratt, a national education policy expert focused on teacher shortages.
• In 4B, SEIU endorsed incumbent Ellen Rosenfeld, who is running unopposed. CTU made no selections in the race.
• CTU endorsed Jitu Brown (5A), Michilla Blaise (5B), and Anusha Thotakura (6A). SEIU made none in those races.
• In 7A, CTU endorsed incumbent appointee Emma Lozano; SEIU backed her opponent, Jesus Ayala, Jr. 
• In 7B, SEIU chose Yesenia Lopez. She ran in 2024 with CTU's endorsement, but they are not backing her this time. 
• SEIU is also endorsing South and Southwest Side candidates CTU strongly opposes: Angel Gutierrez, newcomer Brittany Preston (who is the only candidate on the ballot in the 9A race), Therese Boyle, and Che "Rhymefest" Smith.

Black Student Success. The CPS Black Student Success Plan has wrapped up a rocky Year One, including threats from the Trump administration and delays in creating its oversight committee.

More than 18 months after taking office, the board finally voted in 10 members of the Black Student Achievement Committee at its most recent meeting. Notable names include West Side leaders Valerie Leonard, a longtime advocate for an elected school board, organizer Crystal Gardner, and Jemia Cunningham-Elder, president of North Lawndale College Prep.  The long delay in forming this committee has caused frustration among community members and advocates alike.

Chalkbeat reported the list of committee members so far and published an interview with the plan's director, Eugene Robinson Jr. He discussed facing the Trump administration's threats and “socializing the plan” in this first year. 

CPS created a new collaboration via memorandum of understanding with Villa Abertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education funded by the Embassy of France in the U.S. This entails free access to updated online French training and resources for CPS teachers, through INSTITUT FRANÇAIS and TV5MONDE, a global diplomacy network and French-language television network respectively, following CPS’s struggle to maintain language resources across the district under the budget shortfall.

Candidate Events

Jenni Custer, Board President Race: Support Reception, 5-7 p.m., Wed., July 15, Salerno's Pizza of Chicago, 1645 W. Jackson.

Ed Bannon, 1A: Northwest Side Budget Briefings, Sat., July 18, 2 p.m., Roden Library, 6083 N. Northwest Highway.

Norma Rios-Sierra, 3A: Rally and Canvass Kick-Off, Sat., July 18, 10:30 a.m., El Capitan Snacks, 3150 N. Central Ave. RSVP here.

Juan Ignacio Gonzalez, 8B: Community Conversation, 6-9 p.m., Wed., July 30, South Side Social, Effortless Look, HQ, 4432 S. Ashland Ave.

Candidates: To have your July events listed in a future newsletter, please email your information to norahdcruze@u.northwestern.edu

Political Events

The 40th Ward Dems are hosting their annual meeting on Thurs., where they plan to look ahead to the Nov. 3 midterm election.

The 2026 40th Ward Dems Annual Meeting will be held from 6-8 p.m., Thurs., July 16, Is/Was Brewing, 5121 N. Ravenswood Ave. Sign up here.