This district, running from downtown to the South Loop and onto Greater Grand Crossing on the South Side, is represented by Jessica Biggs, who was elected in 2024 and now is running for school board president with our endorsement. Unusually, neither of the two candidates vying to succeed Biggs is endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union or the Service Employees International Union, which represents many non-teaching Chicago Public School workers.
Michael Neal, 62, is a pastor at Glorious Light Church in Bronzeville, attended CPS schools and sent both his daughters to CPS schools. Biggs has endorsed him.
He faces Brittany Kimble, 41, an attorney who chairs the Illinois Employment Security Board of Review, which considers appeals of unemployment-benefits rulings.
Kimble has a daughter in CPS and became sufficiently frustrated with how her daughter’s issues, which included bullying, were addressed that she homeschooled her for a time. She also has endured personal hardship recently, with her criminal defense law practice filing for bankruptcy earlier this year. She has said that her business struggled to recover from the pandemic and eventually her debts became overwhelming.
More Top Picks Le Beau Paradise Garden Jean Paul Gaultier For Men
Her daughter’s experience is part of why she’s running. She’s endorsed by pro-charter school advocates.
We think both candidates take reasonable stances about how to stabilize the financially teetering district. But we like Neal’s balanced approach to managing CPS, from positing that any school consolidation should be handled case by case to welcoming teachers as an important voice in the future of CPS without giving them a dominant voice.
Michael Neal is endorsed.
Read all of the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsements for the 2026 Illinois general election here.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].