How Many Chicago Mayors Have Graduated From A Chicago Public High School

• Sun-Times
• Mayor Harold Washington, shown here in 1986, dropped out of DuSable high school, then earned his degree in an unusual way.

I’m sure Mayor Emanuel cares about Chicago’s children and wants them to have the best schooling possible. But maybe his interest in the city’s schools would be keener if he had a personal history with them—if he himself was a Chicago public school alum. That, however, hasn’t been true of many Chicago mayors.

Ergo, this trip down mayoral lane:

• Sun-Times
• Mayor Jane Byrne, in 1979, her first year in office. She graduated from a Catholic grade school and a Catholic high school.

Before Washington:

Edward J. Kelly (1933-’47) attended a Chicago public school until fifth grade, when he quit to work.

So that’s 100 years—during which a single Catholic high school, De La Salle, has produced four times as many mayors as all Chicago public high schools combined. Or five times as many, if you count De La Salle grad Frank Corr, the acting mayor for 32 days after Cermak died in office.

Rahm’s three children have left that snobby school behind, though not for a public school. Now they attend the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where tuition is nearly $30,000.