This story was reported and published in collaboration with WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit newsroom covering Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. Stay informed with Chalkbeat Chicago’s newsletter, WBEZ and the Sun-Times’ education newsletter, and Block Club Chicago’s newsletters.
The race to represent downtown Chicago on the school board pits a former lobbyist who leads a statewide advocacy organization with an incumbent advantage against two challengers — a special education classroom assistant backed by pro-school choice groups and another who is an education researcher and consultant whose campaign is operating more independently.
Anusha Thotakura was appointed by the mayor in 2024 after coming in second among three candidates in the first school board election and is hoping to keep her seat with support from the Chicago Teachers Union and the Service Employees International Union, which represents school support workers.
Isaiah White, a school support worker, is running with thousands of dollars from The Urban Center, a centrist political organization that advocates for school choice across public and private schools, and the political arm of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. He also is endorsed by an anti-CTU political action committee that is heavily funded by billionaire Michael Sacks and says it aims to engage voters around “effective progressive policies.”
Brenda Lee Anderson, a Northwestern University lecturer on leave, is not backed by major special interest groups.
Given its location as part of the commercial and business epicenter of the city, District 6a has just 14 public schools — the fewest of any school board electoral districts — and none are neighborhood high schools. The students who attend Chicago Public Schools here are diverse, but the schools have more white and Asian American students than CPS as a whole.
Thotakura’s and White’s main priorities are to boost reading and math scores. Anderson’s main goal is to fix CPS’ chronic budget crisis.
In her nearly two years on the school board, Thotakura said one of her biggest accomplishments was sponsoring the Healthy Green Schools resolution that called on CPS to invest in more clean energy projects and use energy savings toward building improvements, such as mold remediation.
The resolution came after the district’s new labor agreement last year with the CTU to build more environmentally friendly schools when funding is available. As of August, the district was working on six pilot projects to add solar panels or electrify HVAC systems at schools in response to the resolution, according to district memos Thotakura provided.
Thotakura’s top priority for another board term is to boost academic outcomes for students by pushing CPS to meet goals outlined in its five-year strategic plan. She said she wants the district to publicly share data more often about students’ academic progress so the board can hold leadership accountable. She also wants to find ways to make all of her district’s neighborhood schools more enticing for families, who often tell her that they’re sending their kids elsewhere. She said part of that effort includes expanding access to pre-K seats, saying families are often waiting for spots to open.
Thotakura broke with one of her biggest backers, the CTU, last year by voting for CPS’ proposed budget, which did not include high-cost borrowing. This year, she was one of 11 board members who voted in line with the union to amend the district’s proposed budget based on the assumption that CPS will get $150 million more in state funding than anticipated. If that money doesn’t come through, schools may need to lay off staff midyear. Thotakura defended her decision in part because she believes more funding from the city could come through in the form of dollars from special taxing areas, known as Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, districts.
“I think it is worth it for us to mobilize, to use this momentum, to go down to Springfield,” Thotakura said.
Thotakura has often voted in alignment with the teachers union, but she pointed to her budget vote last year as an example of thinking independently.
“If you look at my vote record, it shows that I am an independent minded person that ultimately takes some information from all stakeholders but acts on behalf of the best interests of students,” Thotakura said.
Read Thotakura’s full questionnaire.
By the time White began attending Brooklyn Tech, one of the nation’s most selective public high schools, his mother had died and his father had recently left home, he said. After a weekslong period of homelessness, he moved in with his friend’s family in Brooklyn, he said.
A guidance counselor checked in on him and made sure he could pay AP exam fees and get free lunch, White said. That experience informed his run for school board, he said.
“I am a case of what can happen when the schools really do a very, very good job taking a child, who is humbled with what they have, and helping him or her or them grow and enter the world as an individual able to live a lovely, happy life and contribute to the rest of society,” White said. “I want that to be available to the next generation.”
White moved to Chicago three years ago with his spouse and began substitute teaching at CPS in 2024. He also worked on the 2024 campaign of the current school board representative for District 6a Jessica Biggs, who is now running for board president. Last year, White unsuccessfully ran for Cook County commissioner.
White has amended his campaign website’s references to some past experiences. His website previously stated that he was the chair of family services for the River North Residents Association, but the association’s president told Chalkbeat that White was a volunteer coordinator who worked on two events, including a back-to-school bash. White said his role felt like that of a chair, but after the association president brought the correct title to his attention, he said it was “fairly an oversight” and corrected his website. The reference to the association was gone as of mid-September.
The website had also said White managed multiple campaigns, including Biggs’. Biggs told Chalkbeat that White oversaw field and volunteer operations. The reference to Biggs’ campaign was removed as of mid-August, but White maintained that he managed her campaign and said he didn’t mean to remove the reference on his website. As of publication, the Biggs reference is still gone.
If elected to the school board, White’s main priority would be improving reading and math scores, in part by boosting pay for teaching assistants and finding ways to hire more effective school leaders.
White’s campaign has received funding from political committees for The Urban Center, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, and the Common Ground Collective, all groups that generally oppose CTU’s policy directions.
White said he hasn’t spoken to these organizations about their priorities, but he believes they “properly recognize that CTU is not acting in the best interest of children.”
“But I’m going to do what is in the interest of my community, and … if that means they don’t support me in reelection, that’s fine,” White said.
Read White’s full questionnaire.
Anderson wants to use their experience as an education and social policy researcher to address inequities and increase school funding.
Schools were among Anderson’s “safe spaces” growing up in Ohio and Tennessee as they lived in and out of foster care while their mother struggled with addiction. The experience taught them why stable school environments and supportive neighbors are important, eventually leading them to earn a doctorate degree, Anderson said.
Anderson moved to Chicago a few years ago. Anderson’s LinkedIn page and our CPS School Board questionnaire said they teach at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, but a university spokesperson said Anderson’s employment ended in mid-July. Anderson said they plan to return for the university’s winter and spring quarters, after the election, and are taking on other education-related consulting work.
Anderson’s top priority is to fix the CPS budget by seeking additional untapped federal funding, which currently makes up about 9% of the district’s budget, and pushing for more state funding.
If elected, Anderson said they would look to evidence-backed policies, rather than special interests, to inform their decisions. They also said they would work to build relationships and coalitions made up of people with varying political beliefs, from other local elected officials to working class and low-income people to billionaires.
“When all of these activists and these organizers were thinking about a school board, I believe that I was in their vision: Someone that wanted to be centered on students, that wants to keep public education as public as possible, and someone that is willing to talk to everyone,” Anderson said. “The first rule in organizing is that you have to organize people that don’t always agree with you, right?”
Unlike their opponents, Anderson has not been endorsed by major unions or special interest groups.
Read Anderson’s full questionnaire.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.