1. BRING BACK BUSES: If you can’t get to school, nothing else matters. Every student needs safe transportation. Whether it is a bus*, bike bus, or walking group. Let’s build a CPS-wide community culture and have it start with a basic bus to school. *Redefining “bus” from being big and yellow to being a group commute. Kimberly Brown is proudly endorsed by CPS Parents for Buses

2. IMPROVED PROCUREMENT: CPS spends 1.2-1.5 more than retail pricing too often. Improved financial management across people, process and technology is critical to make every dollar work harder and is the fiduciary mandate to taxpayers. Best in class procurement & financial management is critical to earning and accessing additional resources from every level of government and grant providers as well.

3. ACCESS & TRANSPARENCY: We will begin the culture change with CPS HQ to match our CPS families. Mobile-friendly, multi-language, easy-to-search websites across departments and schools. School and District visualizations that easy to read, updated bi-annually, and based on performance and feedback. Children with disabilities will not require lawyers to be treated fairly. Principals will stay at schools for 10+ years and be top performers across every metric.

   **All of these 3 priorities are how we will tackle equity for special education children as well as English as a Second Language learners.

Every parent and community voice is critical. Below are the organizations that are legally able to provide official endorsements or statements of support. (updated regularly)

• CPS Parents for Buses Endorsed: I'm proud to be the ONLY candidate in District 4 to be endorsed by the Parent founded- and -managed CPS Parents for Buses, advocating for transportation to school

• Roosevelt University Adjunct Faculty Organization (RAFO) Endorsed: I'm an adult educator and the ONLY candidate in District 4 endorsed by my higher education faculty union. *RAFO is not at all affiliated with CTU.

• Personal PAC Endorsed: Proudly endorsed as a 100% pro-choice candidate (only 1 of 3 in our District), focused on women's health being decided between a patient and her doctor.

• Abundant Chicago Bikeable Walkable Schools Candidate: I am the ONLY candidate in the District to support policies for students to walk, bike, or roll safely to their school.

• 100% Equality Illinois Score: Scored 100% on the Equality Illinois pro-LGBTQ+ candidate survey, meaning I support comprehensive sex and health education, separation of church and state, support teaching required LGBTQ+ curriculum, and oppose book bans and censorship.

• Rated Green by Authors Against Book Bans (AABB) Chicago: I unequivocally support the availability of diverse voices on our library shelves, in our schools, and in our culture

I am 100% AGAINST book bans and book censorship.

While this type of censorship has been attempted for centuries, we’ve seen it accelerate in the last few years , up 38% from 2021 to 2022 according to the American Library Association (ALA).

Book bans typically are done to suppress the true diversity and complexity of our society and history, even though research demonstrating how more culturally inclusive material can uplift ALL children.

This matters because U.S. school boards have broad discretion to control material disseminated schools. The Supreme Court last ruling on the issue in 1982 remains vague as to how the First Amendment should be considered. This means an intelligent school board grounded in facts and able to reference valid research from the ALA and other organizations is critical to our Chicago education system.

Books covering complex topics are opportunities for learning and critical thinking facilitated by strong educators that may also involve components that connect community if appropriate. But banning a book is not the answer - ever.

Access to public education is more than enrollment. It includes the ability to get to school, and that includes adequate transportation for any student who requires it.

If you can’t get to school on time, then the teachers and curriculum don’t matter. The quality of food at school doesn’t matter. The extra curricular activities don’t matter. We need to get our kids to school safely. And we need to support caregivers - who are usually working women - so they don’t have another burden to carry.

This topic quickly becomes incredibly relevant for the Board of Education election because it connects to budgeting, contracts, and key initiative prioritization. We need to elect Board members who empathize deeply with the need to get their kids to school, the sacrifices and fear of safety, as well as professional expertise to read complex budgets and contracts and create priorities that address critical needs today. Finally, we need to elect Board members that can listen to the experts, ask the right questions, make good decisions, communicate clearly, and then work with state, federal and private organizations to build a bigger budget so we’re not in the same situation 5 years from now.

I protect the rights of all students to be educated without fear in their schools.

First, CPS needs to own its own long-term failures. I do not support district-wide CPD contract.

We need to support our principals and LSC partners with professional, monetary and leadership support to get their community specific plan as well as triage immediate safety concerns with support to return to return to their ‘normal’ as soon as possible.

Finally, safety is a Health Issue. As a former journalist focused on mental health and ongoing advocate, a person who has battled anxiety, and a Survivor of Suicide, we need to look at the whole human.

• We need to acknowledge the trauma that happens when shots are fired and any level of lockdown occurs and protect our young people from that trauma.

• We need to identify issues that happen at home and how that affects school.

• We need to support teachers and school leaders who are also carrying or experiencing trauma.

• We need to strengthen agency partnership related to home and food insecurity, domestic violence, generational trauma, foster care, and medical issues.

• We need to put medical systems inside the school for physical and mental health care.

The Board's job is to create and govern the culture change that supports the immediate needs of today AND also ensures we do root cause analyses to develop and implement solutions to modernize our public schools for thriving population + provide district-wide infrastructure to take the burden off principals.

Yes! I firmly support public education and the choice that exists within our district's model.

I disagree with the notion we need to divest in magnet/selective enrollment schools to fund local schools. This is not a zero-sum formula. We can and need to grow both.

An effective board leader will have experience in growing resources.

Creating in-fighting dynamics is a cultural artifact of CPS's deep discriminatory history. We need to employ a proven growth mindset and model that grows resources for all. We cannot and will not pit CPS school communities against each other anymore. There are many ways improve neighborhood schools without removing funds from other CPS schools.

Every Board is presented with resource challenges, and CPS is no different.

First, we create a clear culture and vision of One CPS that treats every school as equally important and deserving.

Second, we need to create radical transparency in the budgets so everyone sees where the resources and needs are located now and future projections.

Third, we need to work with community and elected officials to increase resources through innovative ways.

Chicago was built by community innovation; CPS will be saved the same way.

No, I do not support closing schools. We need to decouple/reframe the words and meaning for "school closing". A building and a school community are two separate entities, similar to faith-based or community-based groups. We need to work with the school community - the humans - to decide how to best locate their learning experience. We know years in advance if the building isn't working. We need to sit with the community, in the community, and work to find the best physical location for that school community. We should never close a school. We should work with the school to improve or relocate their community if the building isn't functional by size or standards.

We should not close schools, including existing Charter schools (if not performing, we need to address with current governance oversight). We need to hold their educators and leaders accountable to the same standards as other CPS schools. When we negatively single out a Charter school in CPS, we are hurting the students and families by creating divisive negativity and shame. We are One CPS. We have more important issues than fighting against/within ourselves.