Isaiah will:

• Protect selective enrollment and options schools: Isaiah will be a stalwart defender of the selective enrollment and options model. He will oppose attempts to lower standards, shutter programs, and modify admissions. He believes that all families should have the option to select the best fit school for their children.
• Expand the number of seats at already large, highly competitive selective enrollment schools: Already large schools, such as Lane Tech, turn hundreds of qualified students away every year. Isaiah will seek to expand their enrollment numbers while protecting their high admissions standards. If your child can meet a selective enrollment school’s standards they should be allowed to attend.

Isaiah will:

• Universal elementary bussing: If you live outside of walking distance from your school your elementary schooler should have access to free bussing. Isaiah will make this an entitlement, not a privilege.
• Guaranteed SPED entitlement bussing: All of our children with disabilities should have access to transportation as directed by their IEPs. Isaiah will lower the bar to consider this a required service while also guaranteeing that if it’s in your child’s IEP that the transportation service will be delivered.
• Free CTA Passes: If your child is old enough to take public transportation, prefers a faster and more direct mode of transportation, or has after school activities they wish to attend, CPS should provide them with a free CTA pass. Not only is public transportation often the most direct and autonomy enhancing mode of transportation for older children, but it also saves the district considerable money by taking pressure off the bussing system.
• Targeted pedestrian and bike infrastructure investments: Crosswalks can be dangerous, especially for young children. For many, this is a significant reason why they prefer their children not walk to school themselves. Isaiah will seek to fund targeted pedestrian improvements to make crosswalks near schools and school drop-offs safer. He will support raised intersections to slow drivers and make it easier for them to see children, he would fund traffic and pedestrian signals on uncontrolled crosswalks and he would support the deployment of protected bike lanes on major arterials near schools.

Isaiah will:

• Fight for additional state and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) resources: Because CPS’s ability to raise its property tax levy is severely constrained by PTELL, we must collaborate with other units of government to support our budget. This means seeking additional money through the State’s Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula and through additional TIF surpluses approved by the City.
• Reject unbalanced budgets: Isaiah will never vote for a budget that isn’t balanced or that relies on debt to achieve balance. CPS already carries roughly 23 billion in debt (pension, bond, etc) – this is ~230% more than CPS’s annual budget. We have to stop adding to the pile.
• Vote against pension holidays: Isaiah will never vote for a pension holiday. We must do all we can not to make our pension situation worse.
• Support advance pension payments: The earlier we pay into our pension funds the longer the money has to earn interest and grow – which means we have to pay less over the long term. Isaiah will fight to fund our pensions now so we can pay less for them later.
• Cut wasteful spending: From $8 LED light bulbs to maintenance projects that come in far over budget we have tons of opportunities to achieve lower costs without compromising the services we deliver. It’s time for us to start trimming this fat. The more we waste the less we have for our students and the more we must ask for from taxpayers.
• Hold underperforming contractors accountable: If a contractor underperforms, the government shouldn’t be left holding the bag. By building strong and enforceable standards into contracts, Isaiah will seek to hold contractors accountable for cost-overruns that are within their control.
• Benchmark district procurements to private sector costs: We should always be looking to the private sector to tell us if we are overpaying. Does the cost of a new school building match what we would expect a similarly sized structure to cost if developed by the private sector? Only by understanding when we are overpaying can we hope to pay less for higher quality.
• Cut project requirements that drive up costs: When we layer requirements on top of requirements, projects increase in price. Do we need specially cut windows instead of standard windows? How about unique, custom built school PA systems instead of modern network enabled classroom speakers? Sometimes the added cost of an additional project requirement isn’t worth the marginal benefit of having the additional feature. Isaiah will constantly re-evaluate whether by changing our project requirements we can drive costs lower and free up money for other critical priorities.
• Increase competition in contracting: One or two bidders on each project is not sufficient, neither is six. Only with cut-throat competition can we seek to drive down costs.

Isaiah will:

• Treat Board membership as a full-time job not a part-time gig: Unlike our current appointed member, who’s a lobbyist in her day job, Isaiah will forgo all outside employment. He will devote himself fully, and exclusively, to his role as an elected member.
• Obligate board members to disclose income and beneficial ownership: Today we don’t know how much our board members make, from where they get their money, and if outside income creates financial conflicts. By requiring more reporting we can discourage bad behavior and self-dealing on the parts of our elected officials.
• Strengthen recusal requirements: Board members should be required to recuse when they have a financial interest in the Board’s actions, when they receive contributions from individuals with particular financial interest in a Board action, or when they are approving a contract that benefits their outside employer.
• Reinforce FOIA compliance: Our students benefit when we are serious about making information public. Unfortunately, CPS doesn’t have a sterling record of supporting the free diffusion of records and documents. In 2025 the Board President had members investigated for “leaking” that a special meeting would be called to raise property taxes – clearly the public should know when a government board votes to raise their taxes. Isaiah will staff the FOIA office such that it can reply to all requests in a week or less and will support a resolution expanding the scope of non-personal information to which the public has access. It’s time to stop hiding the work of government in the shadows; Isaiah will force the district to operate in the sunlight.
• Fight patronage, self-dealing, and sweetheart deals: Sometimes it’s just corruption. Isaiah will push for open and competitive procurement and will always fight back against those that would use public dollars to enrich themselves. Isaiah will further empower the district’s inspector general and seek to enhance cooperation with the public corruption division at the State’s Attorney’s office.