Paul Vallas, a front-runner in the Chicago mayor’s race, was a controversial leader of Philly schools

A familiar name tops the list of front-runners in the Chicago mayor’s race: Paul Vallas, who was chief of Philadelphia schools in the early 2000s.

Vallas arrived in Philadelphia in 2002, six months after the state seized control of the beleaguered district, and wasted no time making his mark. He operated with a frenetic energy and a determination to shake up the large, historically insular school system, earning supporters and detractors along the way.

Now he’s polling at the top of a list of nine candidates vying to be mayor of Chicago (where Vallas also previously ran the school district).

Here’s a refresher on Vallas’ time in Philadelphia and what to know about his Chicago campaign ahead of the city’s Tuesday primary election.

Vallas is a Democratic politician and longtime schools chief who led the Bridgeport, Conn., school system, New Orleans’ schools after Hurricane Katrina, and the Chicago Public Schools. He was also a budget director for the city of Chicago.

He was Philadelphia schools CEO — a term Vallas, who does not have a teaching background, preferred over “superintendent” — from 2002 to 2007 during the beginning of the state takeover of the district.

He lost races for governor of Illinois in 2002 and for lieutenant governor in 2014. This is his second bid for mayor. He came in ninth place out of 14 candidates in the first round of the 2019 Chicago mayoral election.

Vallas was a polarizing champion of school choice and privatizing services during his time in Philadelphia. In his tenure, academics improved as the district standardized curriculum, opened a number of specialized high schools, and negotiated changes with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers that allowed more flexibility in teachers assignments. After-school and preschool programs expanded, and attempts were made to reduce class sizes.

Charter schools — which were authorized by the School Reform Commission, not Vallas — expanded in that era. But the district also flirted with private providers of its traditional public schools, giving 45 schools to Edison Schools Inc., a for-profit firm, to run. It was an experiment that did not end well.

Vallas has touted his experience as a bold reformer in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Connecticut. But he’s also faced attacks on that record from rivals who say he aligns more with the Republican Party.

Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter told the Chicago Tribune, “Paul’s never seen a dollar that he wasn’t willing to spend three times.” And U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Philadelphia) who endorsed his colleague U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D., Chicago) in the race, also slammed Vallas’ time in Philadelphia.

A campaign spokesperson for Vallas said Vallas is “proud of the work he did in Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities to turn around failing school districts and help provide a better education to students.“

”He’s running for mayor now as a lifelong Democrat who will put crime reduction and public safety first.”

Shortly after he took the Philadelphia job, Vallas announced a zero-tolerance policy toward violence and disruption in schools. He threatened to fire principals who failed to report problems, and serious incidents soared.

As a result, Vallas put money into security cameras, metal detectors, and disciplinary schools managed by outside providers. He tried to put armed city police officers into high schools, but the city balked, and that plan failed.

Vallas’ Philadelphia security policies strike a much different tone when viewed with a modern lens — some districts have abolished their school police forces, and even Philadelphia has softened its stance, rebranding its school police as ”security officers” who don’t wear traditional law enforcement uniforms and focus on mentorship and trauma-informed practices as well as keeping order.

Like in Philadelphia, Chicago’s mayoral race has been almost unilaterally focused on crime. More than 800 people were murdered in the city in 2022, the most in a generation. Vallas has carved out the most hard-line stances of the candidates on crime, earning him the backing of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police.

He’s spoken on the campaign trail about the intersection of public safety and education, proposing plans to keep neighborhood schools open later and on weekends and holidays, as well as more work-study programs and job training to address root causes of violence and poverty.

By the end of the Vallas era, both Vallas and the city were disenchanted. A “surprise” $73 million deficit had cropped up. Vallas had enormous ambitions, and spent accordingly, souring his backers on his ability to lead effectively. In the end, Vallas skipped out on a School Reform Commission farewell.

After Philadelphia, Vallas became schools chief in post-Katrina New Orleans, where he closed traditional schools, expanded charters, and generally embraced a free-market model for public education.

Chicago’s mayor’s race, unlike Philadelphia’s, is an open primary — meaning Republicans, independents, and Democrats can all vote. The two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, move on to an April 4 runoff.

Vallas has run as a law-and-order candidate and drawn support from conservatives around the city. He’s received campaign donations from prominent Republicans, drawing criticisms from fellow Democrats that he’s too conservative for the city. A clip of him proclaiming in 2009, “I am more of a Republican than a Democrat now” has been featured in several attack ads against him.

But Vallas is widely expected to finish in the top two on Feb. 28 and make the runoff because of his ability to own the more moderate lane. How he would perform in a head-to-head runoff depends largely on who he’s pitted against, political observers of the race say.

Nine candidates are running in the race, but three consistently poll at the top with Vallas.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the incumbent, is hoping for a second term, though she’s struggled in the race due in part to low approval ratings stemming from a series of mishandled crises. García, a congressman and former Cook County commissioner, ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2015 and has maintained strong support. Current Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson has the backing of several unions in the city, including the Chicago teachers’ union, and has risen in the polls. A candidate will likely only need a small percentage of the vote — around 25% — to finish in first or second in a crowded field and make it into the runoff.