Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's first pick for president of the Board of Education after the General Assembly gave him control of the city's school system was his former chief of staff Gery Chico. Starting in 1995 and then during a second term that began four years later, Chico carried out what then constituted the school reform agenda in Chicago, including opening the first charter schools in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system.

It's a record that Chico will be touting this fall and winter as a candidate for Chicago's open mayoral seat. "I'm one who's done this before, and I'll do it again," Chico said about education reform yesterday in unveiling his education platform at CPS's Kelly High School, his alma mater. It's also a record that Chico assumes parents and voters are satisfied with. His plan for public education in Chicago offers continuity with the changes he and Daley initiated 15 years ago and that were carried out, for the most part, by subsequent leaders of CPS and the Board of Education.

Beyond some of the most headline-grabbing planks -- slashing CPS central office staff by one-third and issuing each student a laptop computer -- Chico's education ideas largely conform to the prevailing wisdom in City Hall about how urban school districts should be improved. Chico wants more charter schools, college-prep institutions and preschool programs, and to create a new teacher evaluation system that rewards "high-performing" instructors and remove teachers "who are not getting the job done," regardless of tenure.

Chico would seek to extend the school day and school year. He'd also keep the chief executive structure at CPS intact. He does promise increased transparency at CPS, something that's sorely needed. Here's Chico talking about a few of these ideas yesterday:

One Kelly staffer at the event yesterday was skeptical about Chico's promise to add 20 to 25 more charter schools in CPS while also recruiting the best public school teachers. He challenged Chico on the issue yesterday. Watch the exchange:

Charter expansion is one area in Chico's plan likely to generate friction with Chicago Teachers Union, whose president has said she'll oppose further charters. Chico's support for school vouchers, something he didn't talk about yesterday, is another potential faultline. "As Mayor of Chicago, Gery Chico will support a voucher initiative that will allow parents of students in chronically failing schools to receive a $3,717 voucher toward elementary school tuition, and a $7,500 voucher toward high-school children which can be used in private and parochial schools," his education platform states. Up to 30,000 students could be impacted.

Instituting a voucher plan would require a Chico administration to expend political capital in Springfield; CPS needs state approval to move forward with paying for students' private tuition. Earlier this year, legislation authorizing a voucher program in Chicago sponsored by State Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago), himself now a mayoral contender, failed to make it out of the statehouse after passing the senate. Critics saw the Meeks bill as simplistic and thought it deprived public schools of much-needed dollars. "We can't just say give them a voucher," State Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) said, "and that's going to solve the problem." Others wondered if private institutions had the capacity to accept the 22,000 students Meeks' bill was designed to reach.

It's worth noting that Meeks introduced his voucher legislation only after waging a high-profile public campaign that had equitable school funding in Illinois as its goal. Chico did not speak about changing the state's education funding formula during his address yesterday, and when Progress Illinois asked him about the issue later he demurred on specifics. "Rather than being ideological about it, I'd be doggedly pragmatic about it ... We need more resources to invest in education," he said. Chico said he had not read the legislation that would raise the state income tax by 1 percent, a move Gov. Pat Quinn has supported as an "educational surcharge." Chico did promise to seek more money from the state for teachers' pensions.

Chico also did not address the impact of the city of Chicago's tax increment financing districts on CPS at Kelly, though he did defend them recently in an interview with the Sun-Times. CPS faces an estimated budget deficit of $700 million next year.

Yesterday was a busy day on the education front; the top news was Daley's selection of Terry Mazany as the interim CPS leader after current CEO Ron Huberman steps down. Shortly before Chico began his speech, the Chicago Teachers Union discussed Mazany's appointment at a press conference. Take a look:

Note that the CTU's Jackson Potter discussed the next head of CPS -- Mazany is expected to step down after the city's new mayor makes his pick -- as a "superintendent" rather than a chief executive. This is but one example of how CTU seems to slowly be articulating a different plan for the future of CPS.