Brandon Johnson for Mayor of Chicago (IL)
NPE Action is proud to endorse Brandon Johnson for Mayor of Chicago. Brandon is a former teacher passionate about ensuring every student in Chicago has a fully resourced, supportive, safe, and healthy learning environment. Brandon was an organizer who led multi-racial coalitions to defend neighborhood schools from privatization, reduce high-stakes standardized testing, and expand access to state funding. As mayor, Brandon will work side-by-side with Governor J.B. Pritzker and the General Assembly to overhaul the CPS school funding formula and ensure Chicago Public Schools receive the state funding they need and deserve.
Brandon understands that the greatest mass school closure of Black and Latino schools in US history devastated Chicago. He understands sustainable community schools and affordable housing will lift Chicago communities. Brandon will support Sustainable Community Schools (SCS) for Chicago. The SCS model is a way to transform neighborhood schools that have been starved of resources for generations. Brandon will advocate making more creative use of excess space in small schools rather than closing them by co-locating revenue-generating facilities such as child care and health clinics.
It is important to note that his opponent is Paul Vallas, endorsed by Arne Duncan. According to a press release from Illinois Families for Public Schools, “In a little-noticed February 2022 op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, Vallas laid out a radical plan for privatizing Chicago Public Schools (CPS). In addition to supporting Illinois’ existing Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship voucher program, which already diverts millions to pay for vouchers for more than 4000 Chicago children, Vallas would create a city-funded voucher program and pay for it with funds from the CPS operating budget earmarked for teacher pensions. The pension payments would then instead be covered by surplus Tax Increment Financing dollars. In the same op-ed, Vallas also proposes allowing religious private schools to become district-funded charter (or contract) schools.”
Even more worrisome is that Vallas has garnered the behind-the-scenes support of Betsy De Vos. According to Illinois Families, “Last week ex-President Trump’s former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made a $59,000 independent expenditure in support of mayoral candidate Paul Vallas’ campaign from a Super PAC she funds, the Illinois Federation for Children PAC.”
We cannot emphasize how much is at stake for public education in Chicago.
Here is first-hand testimony from NPE Action Board Member Jitu Brown.
If you live in Chicago, please vote for Brandon Johnson during the general election on April 4, 2023.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. Authorized and paid for by National for Public Education Action, PO Box 227. New York, NY 10156. 646-678-4477.