Vallas has learned nothing about schools except how to destroy the public ones.

It is difficult to imagine a walking school disaster like Paul Vallas talking smack to a guy like Brandon Johnson about public schools.

Johnson, who before he ran for County Commissioner a few years ago, was an actual classroom teacher and then a teacher union official.

As a committed enemy of teacher unions, Vallas tries to promote the idea that being a leader of a union is a glitch.

I think it’s a feature.

Vallas, of course, has never taught in a public school classroom.

Never been in a union.

Until Mayor Daley (2) appointed him as CEO of CPS Vallas was the city’s budget director. Vallas had no experience with public schools.

You know what happened next. Daley forced him out as CEO and replaced him with Vallas’ assistant, Arne Duncan.

Vallas went on to promote privatization of public schools in Bridgeport, Philadelphia and New Orleans, Haiti and Chile.

He didn’t last long at any of those places. It is ironic that he talked trash about Brandon Johnson for only teaching seven years when Vallas himself never held a job in any of the school districts where was hired for even that long.

By the way, Vallas claiming that Johnson has no “management skills” sounds suspiciously like a racist dog whistle to me.

Like Johnson’s not smart enough to handle the job.

But the real issue is the candidates’ vision for our public schools. While it is true that while direct mayoral control of Chicago schools will be replaced by an elected school board, only the most naive believe the next mayor won’t have a huge impact on what even an elected school board will do.

Vallas has learned nothing from his various school jobs.

Paul Vallas plans drastic changes to CPS’ structure, bolstering principals and local leaders’ power over spending and programming — and even the ability to let a charter school take over their campus. He would prioritize standardized testing and make it easier to hold students back a grade so they don’t graduate without necessary reading and math skills.

He also wants to continue the disastrous policy of having dollars follow the individual student, punishing schools with high needs but small enrollment.

Johnson, 46, says he would take an approach more in line with recent changes by CPS officials.

He would focus on beefing up traditional neighborhood schools in an effort to end the “Hunger Games scenario” where kids “apply to access a quality school.” That includes fully staffed special education departments, librarians, art and music teachers and nurses and social workers, he said.

Under the current CPS budgeting system, schools often have to choose between which positions they can afford.

It is pretty clear that in spite of all of Vallas’ failures, promoting vouchers, standardized testing and charter expansion, he has learned nothing.