David Chizewer Quoted in WBEZChicago Article, "Vallas and Johnson Clash on School Choice, Fueling Different Donor Bases in Mayor’s Race"
David Chizewer is quoted in "Vallas and Johnson Clash on School Choice, Fueling Different Donor Bases in Mayor’s Race," published in the March 21, 2023, edition of WBEZChicago.
The article concerns mayoral candidate Paul Vallas's promise to expand school choice while his opponent, Brandon Johnson, says it deepens segregation and inequity. Vallas supports charter schools and the channeling of money for private school scholarships, while Johnson is an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union and an advocate for building up traditional public schools.
Goldberg Kohn's Mr. Chizewer is a founder and past board president of the Chicago International Charter School, one of the city’s largest charter schools. He also co-founded and is a board member of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS). And, thus, was interviewed for the article.
He says he supports Vallas for mayor because "he’s put the focus on kids and families, as opposed to politics."
“What’s important to me is that we don’t have someone in office who is biased against charters, or who is going to make decisions about schools based on their own political beliefs, or political power,” Mr. Chizewer is quoted as saying. “We need vibrant schools with great academic [and] social-emotional outcomes.”
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About David Chizewer
David Chizewer is a Principal of Goldberg Kohn and Chair of the firm's Litigation Group. He is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and has been featured in the National Law Journal’s list of 10 of the nation’s top litigators. He has been named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Public Justice Foundation and was separately a runner-up for that same award. He has also been named Lawyer of the Year by the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, and has received the Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service by the Federal Court in Chicago on two separate occasions.
In a civic capacity, Mr. Chizewer is at the forefront of the legal issues affecting the education reform movement. He was a member of the Education Policy Group for the Barack Obama U.S. Senate and Presidential Campaigns, and in May 2005 he argued a seminal charter school case before the Illinois Supreme Court. As a result of his civic leadership, he was selected a Leadership Fellow for the 2003-2004 Leadership Greater Chicago Program.
