Perhaps the most oddly shaped locality, the 6th District extends from the Near North Side through Downtown and the Near South Side down to the South Side, bounding around River North, Rush and Division, Gold Coast, Streeterville, Millenium Park, Grant Park, Fuller Park and Washington Park and touching the Bucktown, Wicker Park, West Town, Old Town, Loop, Near South Side, Douglas, Armour Square, Grand Boulevard, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, Grand Crossing and Englewood neighborhoods.
Here’s what to know about the race in the 6th District. For a look at how the elected school board will work and more on the races in the other districts, click here.
Who’s running?
There are three candidates running in the 6th District: Jessica Biggs, Anusha Thotakura and Andre Smith.
How much money has been raised?
In the 6th District, roughly $358,000 has been raised among the three candidates through Oct. 21.
Thus far, Thotakura has been the big fundraiser among the candidates in the 6th District, with over $278,000 in her campaign coffers. That’s more than the other two candidates combined: Biggs has raised just under $42,000 and Smith has collected roughly $38,000 in contributions.
This does not include independent expenditures.
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What are the candidates’ campaign platforms?
Jessica Biggs
What is your background in education?
I was previously a special education teacher and a principal at Chicago Public Schools’ Burke Elementary. During my tenure at Burke, student performance increased dramatically, and the school was taken off probation. Today, I work as a community leader and organizer, building systems of partnership between schools, healthcare, behavioral health, and community-based organizations that support the holistic needs of students and families.
Why are you running for a seat on the Chicago Board of Education?
I am a CPS parent, so I have a significant stake in the system’s success. I am also an experienced educator. I was previously a special education teacher in California and a principal at CPS’s Burke Elementary. I chose to become a teacher and then a school leader in large part because of the inequalities I saw in my community and the world. Everyone deserves access to an excellent education, regardless of zip code, regardless of wealth, regardless of anything. I sought, in my small way, to make that a reality. That is a large part of why I became a principal. Often good leadership is what makes the difference between an excellent school and a failing one. When I was appointed principal of Burke the school was on probation – its students were performing far below grade level and its culture was disorganized, unkind, and hostile. By the time I left, the school was no-longer on probation and the school culture was a beautiful mix of high expectations, compassion, care, and joy. I am running for school board because every Chicago student deserves a school like that. I want to take what we know creates schools worthy of their students and apply those lessons to schools across Chicago. This is a pivotal moment in Chicago’s history, and I want the best for my daughter and every CPS student.
How would you describe your campaign platform?
My platform has three core components. The first is independence. By staying independent of the major sources of money and power shaping our schools, I can ensure that the only people I will be beholden to are my constituents. The second is experience. I have worked many years in education, as both a teacher and administrator. I know what makes a school excellent and what doesn’t. The third is justice. CPS operates a profoundly unequal system that consistently leaves Black children and families holding the short end of the stick. This cannot continue.
What is the single most important issue facing CPS students?
The job of a school is to educate its students. I believe that the single most important issue facing CPS students is the quality of their education. There are many issues that contribute to a school’s ability to be a center of educational excellence; funding, excellent staff, superb physical plants, are all critically important, but at the end of the day what we need to aim for is the consistent delivery of a high-quality education to all students.
Provide three to four key points you want voters to know about your campaign.
As a CPS parent, former CPS principal, and teacher, I have a stake in the system’s success and an intimate understanding of its complex issues. I believe we must deliver a high-quality, well-rounded education while being fiscally responsible. We have a responsibility to future students and taxpayers, just as we do to current students. I am running without the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union or charter groups. I will represent the people of District 6 instead of the special interests seeking to influence our system.
To read this candidate’s questionnaire in its entirety, click here.
Anusha Thotakura
What is your background in education?
I’ve worked as a middle school math teacher outside of Chicago Public Schools. I volunteer at CPS as an after-school debate coach in Brighton Park.
Why are you running for a seat on the Chicago Board of Education?
I’m running for the Chicago Board of Education because I believe in the transformative power of public education and the urgent need for responsible leadership. As a former middle school math teacher, I’ve seen how ongoing underfunding and inequity affect our students’ ability to succeed. That’s why I transitioned into policy and advocacy, where I’ve worked to address the structural barriers to every child receiving the high-quality education they deserve.
In my current role as Executive Director of Citizen Action Illinois, the state’s largest progressive policy and political coalition, I’ve worked to pass legislation that makes healthcare more affordable for working families. I’ve learned how to organize within communities, build coalitions, work productively with legislators, and navigate Springfield to deliver real results—skills that will serve me well on the Board of Education. My approach has always centered on responsible budgeting and making sure that public resources are used where they have the greatest impact. For our schools, that means equitable funding, improved early childhood education, and ensuring our students have access to high-quality after-school programs.
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CPS needs leadership that can be trusted to see and hear the needs of the communities it serves. One of the most urgent issues facing CPS is the drastic cuts to after-school programs, including an 80% reduction for debate. From my experience as a volunteer debate coach and policy advocate, I know these programs are critical for developing students’ confidence, critical thinking, and leadership skills. These cuts are short-sighted and harmful, especially for students in underserved neighborhoods who rely on these programs for enrichment and opportunity. If we want to see our children thrive, we need to prioritize investing in after-school programming, not cutting it.
This election is about making sure we invest in the future of every child in Chicago. I’ve spent my career working on behalf of families and communities to ensure the systems meant to support them are accountable and effective. As a member of the Board of Education, I will bring that same focus to ensuring that our schools are funded equitably, that after-school programs are expanded, and that every decision is made with the goal of improving academic outcomes for our kids. This commitment is why I have received the endorsement of over 10 state legislators, including Rep. Kam Buckner, Rep. Kim du Buclet, Rep. Lilian Jimenez, Sen. Omar Aquino, Sen. Lakesia Collins, Sen. Elgie Sims as well as Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs and Attorney General Kwame Raoul. These leaders have worked with me, know my commitment to public service, and trust me to advocate for responsible, results-oriented policies that will create a fully-funded CPS students and parents can be proud of.
How would you describe your campaign platform?
My guiding principle is simple: No child in Chicago should receive a worse education based on the neighborhood they grow up in—access to language classes, after-school programming, and arts instruction should never be conditioned on a child’s street address.
What is the single most important issue facing CPS students?
CPS’ budgetary difficulties are by far the district’s biggest challenge, and there is no sugarcoating the size of the task at hand. With the board’s unfortunate history of fiscal mismanagement and corruption, the community is looking for honest representation that will hold CPS accountable – I intend to do so. We need our budget to be balanced so that students, families, and teachers do not have to worry about impending cuts and destabilization from year to year. According to the State of Illinois’s Equitable School Funding targets, Chicago Public Schools need an additional $1 billion to be adequately funded. I support the current board’s hiring freeze and cuts for administrative positions, but we need additional funding to reduce classroom sizes, have social workers and nurses in every school, and expand after-school and extracurricular programs. Still, our current school funding system is over-reliant on property taxes – our city should be advocating for more state funding, but this can only happen if our leaders (including the newly-elected school board) have meaningful relationships down in Springfield. We should also prioritize using school building space efficiently to generate revenue and meet other community needs by, for example, expanding School-Based Health Centers, which can conveniently provide mental health, immunization, and primary care, and primary care services for students, families, and the broader community
Provide three to four key points you want voters to know about your campaign.
There is so much that needs to be done, but three things are at the top of my list: Improving achievement: About 31% of CPS elementary students are considered proficient in reading, and only 19% are proficient in math. Those numbers are unacceptable. Our students are not being set up for future success by the current system. However, there is some progress—more elementary students are proficient in reading compared to last year, with performance now above pre-pandemic levels for the first time. This gives me hope, but we must push for much greater growth, especially when it comes to closing the achievement gap between Black and White students. Balancing the budget: With the board’s unfortunate history of fiscal mismanagement and a growing budget gap, the community is looking for honest representation to hold CPS accountable. We need our budget balanced so that students, families, and teachers do not have to worry about impending cuts and destabilization from year to year. After-school programming: One of the most urgent issues facing CPS is the drastic cuts to after-school programs, including an 80% reduction in funding for debate. From my experience as a volunteer debate coach and policy advocate, I know these programs are critical for developing students’ confidence, critical thinking and leadership skills. These cuts are short-sighted and harmful, especially for students in underserved neighborhoods who rely on these programs for enrichment and opportunity.
To read this candidate’s questionnaire in its entirety, click here.
Andre Smith
This candidate did not respond to this questionnaire by the time of publishing.
The candidates’ responses shown here have been edited for length, style and clarity.