By: Ashmar Mandou
Former CEO of Chicago Public Schools Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters denied incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term, harnessing only 17 percent of support. Vallas, 69, is a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, a position he held from 1995-2001. Before serving as CEO of CPS, he served as city budget director. After leaving CPS, Vallas led school districts in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Connecticut. Johnson is 46 years old and the current Cook County Commissioner, first elected back in 2018. He has touted his work eliminating Cook County’s version of a gang database and his work combating housing discrimination in Chicago. Lightfoot conceded Tuesday evening, telling supporters that she is now “rooting and praying for the next mayor of Chicago. A few of the key issues for Vallas and Johnson include:
Safety
Johnson
Johnson has said he would establish a Mayor’s Office of Community Safety to coordinate violence prevention with all agencies. He also said he wants to cancel the city’s contract with ShotSpotter and reopen mental health centers.
Vallas
The center of Vallas’s platform is crime. He has been a constant critic of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and wants to return to a more community policing-centric strategy with the Chicago Police Department.
Education
Vallas
Vows to keep schools open longer and through weekends and holidays. Wants to create high school work study programs and open Adult High Schools for occupational training. Vallas supports a controversial school voucher program, which would take TIF funds to provide tuition help to families send kids to private schools. Wants to convert under-enrolled schools to open enrollment magnet schools and lift enrollment caps on charter schools.
Johnson
Johnson has a 12-point plan for ‘education justice.’ This includes pushing for free child care for all by making corporations “pay what they owe in taxes,” give City Colleges an elected board, overhaul the CPS funding formula in Springfield, replace heating and cooling systems in schools, increase accessibility for people with disabilities, and create an apprenticeship pipeline.
