The Chicago Board of Education approved a contract for the school district’s new CEO Macquline King, a homegrown talent who has led the district on an interim basis for the last 10 months.
King will have a three-year contract with a starting salary of $380,000, which is $40,000 more than her predecessor Pedro Martinez.
The vote represented a rare coming together of the partially elected, partially appointed school board. Only Jennifer Custer, who represents the Far Northwest Side, voted against King’s contract.
After the near-unanimous vote, King got a standing ovation.
King said she has confidence that Chicago Public Schools is moving in the right direction despite “the serious challenges” the district faces. She said she will work to build on the progress students have made in graduating on time from high school and earning college credit from dual enrollment classes.
Now, she said, the mission is to “build a bridge of excellence” across the K-12 experience, ensuring there’s a strong curriculum for every subject.
“We will protect the progress that we’ve made with everything we have,” King said. “Our path forward is clear, it’s etched on our strategic plan centered on one thing: student experience. As your permanent superintendent/CEO, my mandate is to actualize this plan with absolute fidelity for every student, every school, every community.”
“Most importantly, I will listen to our students,” King added. “I want every child to feel a deep sense of belonging at our schools. As a proud CPS graduate, I see myself reflected in the eyes of our students.”
King was not originally named as a finalist for the permanent position, but board members added her to the shortlist a few weeks ago. Support quickly coalesced around King, especially after a former chancellor of New York City’s public schools dropped out of contention.
At Monday’s special meeting, each board member took a moment to explain their support for King. Michilla Blaise, who was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, said King checks all her boxes: A Black woman who lives on the West Side and has deep experience in CPS.
She also said she believes that King will work with her to figure out how to address under-enrolled schools, one of the major issues facing the school district and the West Side communities that Blaise represents. Blaise said it would take “true partnership” to come up with a vision for those schools and see it “through to fruition without just closing doors.”
Ellen Rosenfeld, who represents the Near North Side, said she has supported King from the beginning, but noted the monthslong search for a permanent leader had been “a long strange trip.”
Rosenfeld said she was impressed with King’s bravery and independence, likely a reference to when King stood up to the mayor and his allies on the school board by refusing to present a budget that could have put the cash-strapped district further into debt.
“We will continue to demand transparency, accountability and meaningful engagement,” Rosenfeld said. “Congratulations, let’s get to work.”
Yesenia Lopez, whose Southwest Side district was frequently targeted at the height of immigration enforcement activity last fall, said she saw King’s leadership grow during that time. Lopez applauded King for communicating with families and school leaders.
“She was open to collaborate on the best response possible at the time when Midway Blitz was operating, hitting many of our… immigrant communities,” Lopez said.
But she asked King to include Latino and Asian American leaders in her cabinet so her advisers would represent the diversity of the district’s students.
“Having individuals that understand the importance of our English learners, of our diverse communities, of special education, [and the] Safe Passage program, among others” is critical, Lopez said.
Throughout the meeting, King got endorsements from union leaders, community members, including a prominent South Side pastor, and several City Council members.
Dian Palmer, president of SEIU Local 73, which represents thousands of CPS workers, said the 316,000 students in the district deserve someone who can deliver a great education.
“When we talk about who should lead those schools, we don’t just talk about a title,” she said. “We talk about a vision, we talk about values, we talk about who will sit across the table from us and treat our support staff not as a line item in the budget, but as the beating heart of this system. We have the faith that person is Dr. Macquline King.”
Like several other speakers, Palmer said she believes King’s “lived experience” as a student, teacher and principal in CPS will serve her well.
“She knows that sustainable progress in our schools cannot be won through top-down mandates,” Palmer said. “It is built brick by brick through honest action, mutual respect and shared sacrifice.”
Kia Banks, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, the union that represents CPS principals, said King has demonstrated a willingness to work with school leaders.
She also thanked her for recognizing that the CPAA is the official bargaining unit of principals. In 2023, the Chicago Principals Association became an official collective bargaining union. The union was able to finalize its first contract in the fall under King.
“We recognize that we will not always agree,” Banks said. “There will be moments of tension. There will be difficult decisions, and there will always be competing priorities.”
But Banks said she is confident that the unions, the school board and King can find common ground to move the school district forward.
Jackson Potter, the vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said he is hoping that the elevation of King to CEO represents a change from the past when CPS leaders “kowtowed to mega-millionaires and privateers.”
Potter said King showed she was different from former CEOs in how she dealt with Aspira, a charter school network set to close this week after running out of money.
“Your work to ensure that Aspira students graduate with as little disruption as possible, despite the grave and irresponsible actions of the charter operator, is to be lauded,” he said.
Union leaders and City Council members also brought up King’s stewardship of the budget last year. She inherited a $734 million deficit when she took over as interim CEO in June, but refused to present a budget that included the possibility of borrowing, as the mayor’s office wanted.
Ald. Stephanie Coleman of the 16th Ward congratulated King on behalf of the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus.
“We couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments that she has made, especially in the last most trying budget,” Coleman said. “Dr. King, you have done a herculean job with balancing the budget, no furlough days, no school days out, and I commend you and your team.”
20th Ward Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who chairs the city council’s education committee , said she was “excited” that the board picked “one of their own” to lead the district.
“We know that the board has made the right decision, and I am excited that we are going to get back to information and inspiration,” Taylor said.
State Rep. Ann Williams, whose district includes swaths of the North Side, said she was “thrilled” about King’s appointment, and applauded her for making herself available to state lawmakers at a level that “we have not seen in a number of years” from the head of CPS.
“That partnership, that collaboration I think is going to be invaluable as we struggle to meet the funding challenges and some of the long-term and short-term issues that we all need to work on together,” Williams said.
King is a CPS graduate and her two grown sons attended CPS. She taught in Chicago before becoming principal of two small elementary schools — one mostly Black school on the South Side and one a diverse school on the North Side.
She has experience leading through CPS’ 2013 mass school closures, welcoming children to a new school after theirs closed and leading through the COVID-19 pandemic.