Chicago Teachers Union political director Hilario Domínguez announced Thursday that he is running for school board president, joining a crowded field vying to lead the governing body of the nation’s fourth-largest school district.
Domínguez, a former special education teacher, is the fifth candidate to enter the race for the citywide role. He joins former board appointee Sendhil Revuluri, sitting board members Jennifer Custer and Jessica Biggs, and trial attorney Victor Henderson.
In a historic first for Chicago, all 21 school board seats will be on the November ballot. The board was previously composed of seven mayoral appointees, but is currently in a two-year transition period, split between 10 elected and 11 appointed members.
The announcement caps months of speculation over who the politically powerful CTU might put forward as a presidential candidate. A longtime CTU organizer and strategist, Domínguez played a key role in mobilizing the union and its allies around Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2023 campaign.
In an interview with the Tribune, Domínguez said his focus as board president would be to insulate Chicago Public Schools from cuts and press state legislators for additional funding. Last week, the district unveiled school-level budgets with reduced teaching staff to close a $732 million deficit.
“I’m not going to support balancing budgets through school closures or cuts to programs that students rely on,” Domínguez said. “My priority is simple: We protect our classrooms first, and we organize, organize, organize for the resources that our students are promised.”
Domínguez began his CPS career in 2015 as a special education teacher at Casals Elementary School in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, and later worked at Peter Cooper Dual Language Academy on the Lower West Side.
But in November 2021, a fellow employee accused Domínguez of discrimination and sexual harassment, according to records obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Records show the employee said Domínguez repeatedly made a Nazi salute and called them “Hitler” in front of students. According to records, when the employee asked him to stop, they said he responded, “What? You think any of these (expletive) kids know history?”
Domínguez had also questioned the employee about their sexual orientation, the employee alleged. The employee was interviewed by a district investigator but ultimately withdrew the complaint, records show. Domínguez was never disciplined.
He called the allegations “baseless,” and stressed that the complaint was dropped.
“I take pride in the organizing that I have done, the coalitions that I have built with people from across cultures,” Domínguez said. “That includes people from the LGBTQ community, from the Jewish community and the Black community, and I take pride in that.”
In November 2022, he took leave from CPS and eventually joined CTU staff. A union spokesperson said that Domínguez will go through the same endorsement process as any other candidate.
A CPS graduate, Domínguez grew up in the Pilsen neighborhood with immigrant parents. He got his start organizing as a student at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, where he staged a walkout in protest of CPS budget cuts. He previously ran for 25th Ward alderman in 2019, narrowly missing the votes for a runoff spot against Ald. Byron Sigcho-López. His wife is an assistant CPS principal, and they have a young son together.
Domínguez repeatedly pointed to the Evidence-Based Funding formula — the state’s model to finance schools equitably — as a mechanism to relieve the district’s structural deficit, echoing CTU leaders and union-backed board members. CPS is considered 73% adequately funded by the state, but lawmakers have been reluctant to funnel additional dollars into the district.
Asked about his strategy if more state dollars don’t materialize, Domínguez said he “has to challenge that question.”
“I can’t imagine why lawmakers would continue to not fulfill the promise they made to the same families that have entrusted them,” Domínguez said.
The race for board president will be among the most closely watched contests in November. The president plays an outsized role in setting district policy, shaping meeting agendas and managing board members, while working closely with CPS CEO Macquline King. Current board President Sean Harden, who was handpicked by Johnson, has said he does not intend to run.
CTU and outside groups are expected to spend heavily in the race. The 2024 elections largely pitted CTU, the top spender, against pro-school choice and charter advocates. Money is already flowing into dozens of candidate committees.
Fundraising heats up for Chicago’s first fully elected school board race: ‘It’s a tall order’
The weeklong window for board hopefuls to file nominating papers ends Tuesday. Twenty-six candidates have filed so far.
