Policy Priorities

By Elisa Hoffman

I am a parent, teacher, and advocate who will work hard to make sure we have great schools in every neighborhood. While there's no silver bullet to change everything overnight, there are things we can do right now to improve outcomes for our kids.

Parents: I'll listen to parents and community members and respond to their questions, ideas, and concerns. Each of our neighborhoods is different, and what children need to be successful in each of these neighborhoods may be different. As your school board member, I'll listen to you and what you know your children and community need from your neighborhood school.

Preschool: We'll increase the number of high-quality preschool seats in CPS so that our children enter kindergarten on track. If our students are never behind, we don't need to spend time and money catching them up and research shows that high-quality preschool leads to everything from higher high school graduation rates to lower rates of incarceration. Investing in preschool will provide returns for our kids and our city.

People: In my 17 years in education, I've seen the power great people have to transform children's educational opportunities. To make sure we have the best teachers coming into our system, we'll create a more efficient and effective teacher hiring process. We'll also identify and develop the existing talent in our schools to expand our pipeline of principals. These school leaders will listen to parents and families and work collaboratively with their staff to set a positive tone for their schools and raise student achievement.