Campaign for the School Board and against Johnson – Chicago Magazine

Bruce Leon has three opponents in the race for the District 2 seat on the Chicago Board of Education, but he’s actually facing a man who isn’t on the ballot: Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“Bruce Leon will stand up to tyrant Brandon Johnson,” Leon trumpeted in a mailer to voters, speaking out against a $300 million high-interest loan, against firing schools CEO Pedro Martinez and against blocking funding for selective enrollment schools – all of Johnson’s priorities.

“Enough is enough,” the broadcaster concluded. “Bruce Leon is the only truly independent candidate with the courage to stand up to Mayor Bully and CTU.”

Johnson is a former Chicago Teachers Union organizer and has close ties to the union that supported and financed his mayoral bid. Johnson also has a 26 percent approval rating. He recently caused a stir when the entire school board resigned, allowing him to appoint new members who will likely subscribe to his personal vision for the school district. The City Council was so outraged that 41 councilors signed a letter calling for a hearing into Johnson’s handling of schools.

If Johnson and his education policies are so unpopular, could voters take out their dissatisfaction with the mayor by voting against CTU-backed candidates? Leon hopes so. The board, which takes office in January, will consist of 10 members appointed by Johnson, so it’s important to have some independent members who can be voted out, he says.

“I think that’s an important part of this election overall,” he says. “Are we satisfied with the status quo or do we want change? Better to have a board that can push back on payday loans and the CEO. I am independent. I don’t even take outside money. I am a person who I believe will act without strings attached. No matter what happens, the mayor will choose 10 people. Even if five of us win, we will still only make up 25 percent of the board.”

(CTU endorsed Ebony DeBerry in District 2. DeBerry and CTU, which spent $1.3 million on the election, sent out letters calling the self-funded Leon a millionaire “trying to buy his way into the school board” and claiming he is the “Republican” candidate Trump and out-of-state billionaires” who are using him to support Project 2025, which “calls for an end to public education… and takes money out of our public schools and plows it into commercial charter schools.” Leon has gained the support of the Chicago Republican Party , the conservative Illinois Policy Institute and a libertarian Chicago Tribune. INCS Action Independent Committee, a charter school organization that raised $3.2 million, sent mail attacking DeBerry.)

In District 4, candidate Ellen Rosenfeld is also campaigning against Johnson.

According to Rosenfeld’s mailing, “she will oppose Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies at CTU and to reject “The mayor’s reckless proposal to bail out our schools.”

Rosenfeld also calls herself independent. Traditionally in Chicago politics, that meant “unrelated to the Democratic machine.” In the current school board elections, that means “non-alignment with the Chicago Teachers Union,” which has been accused of functioning as a political machine.

“For me, being independent means that I am not subject to anyone’s plans,” says Rosenfeld. “I am not CTU’s candidate or Mayor Johnson’s candidate. We cannot afford for this plaque to be Mayor Johnson’s rubber stamp.”

The mass resignation of the school board put Johnson’s control of the schools in the spotlight among voters, Rosenfeld says, and could prove to be an advantage for anti-Johnson candidates.

“It brought the issue into the spotlight,” he says. “Now when I talk to people, I see that a lot of people are committed. People do their research. It has far-reaching tentacles.

Like Leon, Rosenfeld received the support of the Chicago Republican Party and the Republican Party Tribunemeaning she was also receiving mailers linking her to Project 2025. (The elected school board has brought more politics to Chicago, a city that is already up to its eyeballs in politics. According to the Sun-Timescandidates raised $4.7 million). Is she an independent or a right-wing persecutor? Mayor Johnson is now so focused on the city’s education policy that such distinctions may not matter to voters. Perhaps they are simply looking for candidates who will stand in the way of his total control of the school district.