Jessica Bigs claims victory.

A Chicago public schools first ever elected board of Education.

President and now she's tasked with working alongside the 20 other freshly elected board members and the CPS CEO to set the district's vision for the next 4 years.

Joining us to talk more about that agenda is Jessica bigs.

Jessica, welcome back.

Congrats on winning your race last night.

>> Thanks so much, Brandis.

It's great to be here.

>> So you garnered nearly 49% of the vote followed by Eladio Dominguez with just over 30%.

And Victor Henderson with almost 18%.

What do you think it is about your campaign that resonated with Chicago voters?

>> Yeah, you know, brand is from the beginning.

I have worked to build a broad coalition that's truly representative of Chicago.

And I think we really succeeded in doing that throughout the campaign.

You know, I'm proud to have the support SEIU that.

I represent some of the lowest wage workers in CPS, the Chicago Federation of Labor.

I think in the end it was more than 20 other people from across the city who supported the campaign.

Cook County Board, President Toni Preckwinkle, 5 of my elected board colleagues.

So when put together a coalition like that, I think you're really able to demonstrate to voters how you can bring people together and in a moment when we have been really divided locally.

I think that was something that voters were looking for.

>> What are your immediate priorities once you are formally installed in the position?

>> Yeah, you this is a historic moment for Chicago and I feel really real responsibility to make sure that we get this right.

You now today I'm thinking about the nuts and bolts of of board development for incoming board members to make sure everybody is ready to hit the ground running on day one.

I want to get those committee structures set up.

And, you know, that's something I talked a lot about on the campaign that I think has been missing is just a clear set of academic goals and priorities.

I heard from families over and over again that they really want to see this board focused academic outcomes for students.

So working with those board members to figure out those priorities working in partnership with the CEO and to make sure that the district is focused there.

And then on the financial side and starting to actually bring together the intergovernmental body that can put together a real financial recovery plan to guide the finances of our district.

>> You've been criticized throughout your campaign for some of the financial contributions that you received, including receiving money from billionaire Michael Sacks.

Here is a Dominguez making note of that in his speech last night.

>> We may not have had billionaires writing million dollar checks.

We may not have had the political establishment lined up behind us, but we have something money cannot manufacture.

We have parents who refuse to give We had teachers who refuse to be silent.

We had communities who refuse to let someone else decide the future of their children.

We had people that believe that public education was worth fighting for.

Even when the odds were stacked against us.

>> And of course, a Dominguez did have the backing of Chicago teachers Union.

He's their former political deputy political director.

But, Jessica, what influence, if any, would you say corporations or the so-called establishment had on your campaign or how you lead?

>> mean, think Brandis my my record is his long-held and it's shown up in my experience over the last 2 decades.

So, you know, I feel quite confident that voters will see exactly what they expected that I am someone who can put together a group of people, a real broad coalition of people.

>> And who don't always agree with one another on issue but can find where those common interests exist.

>> And get together around big ideas to solve really important and complex problems.

So I mean here to to get that done.

>> And will probably want to apply when working with your fellow board members.

10 candidates backed by the Chicago Teachers Union have one or are leading in their current school boards.

The races you, of course, we're CTU backed candidates, but you have previously served on the board.

Have you plan on navigating, you know, sort of that board division weather, you know, whether it's from, you know, CTU Indoors to Nancy, to you, endorse members for otherwise.

>> Yeah, you know, Brandon, I am really excited to get into a room with my new colleagues and to support all of them in getting together with one another so that we can start to learn each other.

We can start to build relationships, understand, you know, each of our stories and what motivates us in this moment because I I again, I think there is a lot of common interest and I I will continue to lean heavily on my experience from leading on our superintendent search.

Right?

It was really intentional systems and structures that help to bring the board together.

Building committees that were diverse in their ideology.

Being clear up front about norms and criteria for decisions.

Clear timelines processees.

And I think that will really go a long way.

Not only to help the public understand exactly what the board is focused on, but also to help the board work together.

>> Voters also gave input yesterday on 3 education related advisory questions.

They overwhelmingly supported the use of revenue from a surcharge on millionaires to increase CPS funding to charge owners of long-term vacant or underdeveloped commercial investment properties in additional annual fee to support CPS and establishing a 3% surcharge on millionaires.

With half the revenue dedicated to property tax relief and have to improve state funding for public education.

Now, of course, the voters are just expressing their preferences here.

These are non-binding, but because enacting such proposals would require action by city or state authorities.

But, Jessica, I think part of your role would involve working with the CPS CEO to decide how the district feels about them.

If these measures should go anywhere.

What would you how would you support them or not?

>> Yeah, I think it's really exciting that Chicagoans major, that their voice was heard.

I think those are those are margins that are clear mandates.

And so I think that needs to be a part of our conversation with with our partners in Springfield.

And part of a potential solution to how we make sure that there is actually adequate funding for education and our state.

>> In addition to the financial challenges the district faces on it also faces dwindling enrollment.

Losing more than 11,000 students.

This school, this past school year.

What does that mean for how you'll balance the books?

Because with children tends to come money and is there anything that you can do to boost enrollment going forward?

>> And you know, this is this is something that we need to tackle of the district.

I think, you know, I I have proposed thinking about enrollment across our system as a metric of public trust.

And do you think it is worth paying attention to this percentage of school age kids that enroll in Chicago, public schools and setting some goals to grow that at the same time, you know, we know that these numbers also reflect declining birth rates.

That's a reality of the moment.

And I think we need to be working indeed, partnership in coalition with communities across the city to figure out how we best address that challenge.