On the white board of Arnie Rivera\u2019s downtown office is a list of controversial issues confronting Chicago Public Schools. Looming budget deficits. Half-empty schools. Privately-run charter schools that are increasingly struggling to survive.<\/p>\n
When these issues and others have come up at school board meetings over the past year, discussions are often tense. For decades, the mayor appointed the entire board and public debate was often nonexistent. Now it\u2019s a 21-member, hybrid board with 10 elected members who have various interests and allegiances. Next year, all members will be elected and the discourse could become even more fractured and political.<\/p>\n
Rivera, a former top official at CPS, is stepping into that fray with the launch of the Chicago Education Alliance, a new organization that\u2019s seeking to help shape CPS policy.<\/p>\n
The organization will eventually hire more staff to conduct research and issue policy briefs and recommendations. But first he\u2019ll go around the city listening to what issues parents, teachers and community members think are most important to tackle.<\/p>\n
His goal is to help board members understand both the short-term and long-term potential impact of their decisions.<\/p>\n
That means: \u201cReally taking a look at, if we do this, what does that mean?\u201d Rivera said. \u201cSometimes you\u2019re dealing with the lesser of two evils. Sometimes there are no good options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Education group aims to fill local vacuum<\/p>\n
The Chicago Education Alliance is the result of several philanthropies coming together in 2023<\/a> to understand what players are pushing education agendas in the city and what is needed to focus on students and academic outcomes.<\/p>\n The philanthropies also wanted to respond to concerns from district leaders about how policy would be affected by the transition to an elected school board.<\/p>\n The philanthropies hired nationally recognized consultants to interview and hold focus groups with dozens of people involved in Chicago\u2019s education community. They also compared Chicago\u2019s landscape with other cities.<\/p>\n They decided that Chicago needed something like Advance Illinois, a major player in shaping state education policy. Advance Illinois helped develop the state\u2019s new education funding formula in 2018, and influenced a range of other issues, from early childhood education to the recruitment of diverse teachers.<\/p>\n Robin Steans, who was the first president of Advance Illinois and still leads it, says Chicago needs an organization to help cut through the noise.<\/p>\n \u201cIf ever there was time for something like this, this is it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n She says the \u201csweet spot\u201d for Advance Illinois combines listening to the different constituents affected who have a stake in the state\u2019s public education offerings and pairing their experiences with data analysis. Also, Advance Illinois doesn\u2019t take money from interest groups, nor is it looking for government funding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no axe to grind and no dog in the fight,\u201d Steans said.<\/p>\n Steans\u2019 family foundation is one of several philanthropic groups, including The Joyce Foundation and the Crown Family Philanthropies, supporting the Chicago Education Alliance. To date, more than $5 million has been raised to get the Alliance started.<\/p>\n An organization like the Chicago Education Alliance has not been in the mix for at least a decade. A similar organization, Designs for Change, which focused on policies related to Local School Councils, faded away a few years after its founder died in 2012. Other existing groups try to influence certain aspects of CPS policy, like the budget process, or elevate particular voices, like parents.<\/p>\n The co-chairs of the Chicago Education Alliance\u2019s board \u2014 Sylvia Puente of the Latino Policy Forum and Karen Freeman-Wilson of the Chicago Urban League \u2014 have long focused on improving conditions for Latino and Black residents.<\/p>\n The board is diverse<\/a> in terms of age, gender, and race, Freeman-Wilson says, and includes \u201cthose that are engaged heavily in education, and those of us who aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Freeman-Wilson says she is most interested in advancing policies that promote equity, so that children in Englewood on the South Side get the same education as children in Edgewater on the North Side.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that ultimately, people know what our kids need,\u201d Freeman-Wilson says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of, how do you deliver that? And sometimes we get so convinced that our way is the best way, that we find it hard to hear someone else\u2019s way.\u201d<\/p>\n She says she hopes the Alliance can act as an independent arbiter of how decisions will likely affect students and schools.<\/p>\n Many tough questions ahead for CPS<\/p>\n CPS faces a lot of daunting issues over the next few years. In addition to budget shortfalls<\/a> and the continued loss of enrollment<\/a>, there\u2019s the ongoing tasks of how to improve attendance<\/a>, the classroom experience and academic outcomes<\/a>.<\/p>\n What to do about charter schools is one of the thorniest issues. Past mayors proudly opened them, invested in them and often visited them to tout their success. About 17% of CPS\u2019 316,224 students attend one of the district\u2019s privately-run, publicly funded schools.<\/p>\n But in recent years they have lost their gleam. Like all Chicago schools, several struggle to fill their seats and a handful are either closing or threatening to close.<\/p>\n Recently, the school district has stepped in, sending a cash advance to one charter operator<\/a> that couldn\u2019t make payroll and taking over the management<\/a> of five schools next school year. CPS officials estimate that taking over the charters will cost at least $15 million.<\/p>\n Many board members have conflicting opinions on these situations. Some are generally against privately run schools, but also are staunchly against closing schools because students are harmed. Meanwhile, others believe in charter schools, but are also fiscally conservative.<\/p>\n Rivera says this is an issue where the Chicago Education Alliance could weigh in.<\/p>\n To Rivera, the key questions are: \u201cHow are you making sure that the decisions take all the implications and all the complexities into account? What\u2019s the long-term strategy for these schools?\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s in the unique position of understanding issues from many perspectives.<\/p>\n Rivera spent his early years in Puerto Rico with his parents. When he came back state-side at age 5, he didn\u2019t speak much English. His mom was a teacher and his dad was an electrical engineer. Still, he struggled to get to where he wanted to go, which was college.<\/p>\n \u201cI always thought to myself, man, it was hard for me. How difficult must it be for other individuals who don\u2019t have as many advantages as I did?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Rivera says he was inspired to go into education by his third grade teacher. But after being in a classroom for a few years, he decided to go into the administrative and policy side of education.<\/p>\n He has an eighth grade daughter who just completed applications for high school and his wife is a CPS teacher.<\/p>\n Rivera has served many roles in CPS. After working in CPS\u2019 central office early in his career, he was plucked by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as the city\u2019s deputy chief of staff for education. He then was a senior advisor at After School Matters, which provides jobs for Chicago teenagers, and served as a CPS school board member.<\/p>\n