Born and raised in Vail, Colorado, Johnston is the son of former Vail Mayor Paul Johnston. After graduating from Vail Mountain School in 1993, he attended Yale University, earning his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1997. During high school and college, he became involved in community service activities, including volunteering at a Denver homeless shelter and mentoring youth in a New Havenhousing project. After graduating from college, Johnston taught at a rural high school in Greenville, Mississippi for two years as part of the Teach For America program. Based on this experience, he wrote the book In the Deep Heart's Core. After his program ended, he enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, earning a master's degree in education policy. While at Harvard, he worked with Al Gore's education advisor Jon Schnur. With Schnur and others, he helped to found New Leaders for New Schools, an organization dedicated to training and recruiting leaders for urban schools. Upon earning his master's degree, Johnston enrolled in Yale Law School, and became an education policy advisor to political candidates, including U.S. Senate candidate Tom Strickland in 2002.
Professional career
After returning to Colorado in 2003, he was hired as a principal by Joan Farley Academy, where he achieved an annual increase in the graduation rate. In 2004, he served as principal of the Marvin Foote Detention Center, which houses students in detention centers held in state custody, and organized the first high school graduation in the center's history. In 2005, Johnston taught education law at the University of Denver Law School and became the founding principal of Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, a public school in Thornton, Colorado. As the school's principal, he helped to develop the school's curriculum and program as the school district shifted to developing smaller schools. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Johnston helped lead an education summit in New Orleans and worked with U.S. Congressman George Miller on legislation to recruit and retain teachers. He joined Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as an informal advisor early in 2007; by May 2008, he was regarded as one of the campaign's key advisors on education issues. Obama delivered a major address on education from MESA in May 2008. The school's achievements were highlighted in an October 2008 campaign advertisement. Johnston has served on the boards of local and national education and service organizations, including the I Have A Dream Foundation, the Urban League, City Year, New Leaders, America Achieves, and America Succeeds. In 2010, he was featured in Forbes magazine's "7 Most Powerful Educators" and Time magazine's "40 Under 40".
Political career
Colorado Senate
In April 2009, Senate President Peter Groff announced his resignation, effective at the end of the 2009 legislative session, after accepting an appointment in the Obama administration's Department of Education. Johnston announced his candidacy for the seat in late April, facing former state representative Rosemary Marshall, Democratic National Committee member Anthony Graves and activist Renee Blanchard for the historically African-American legislative seat. The district spanned northeastern Denver, Colorado, and was roughly one-third white, one-third Latino, and one-third African-American. He cited education as the central motivation for his run, including the failure of a bill during the 2008 session granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. During his campaign for the legislative appointment, he met personally with almost all members of the vacancy committee. At the May 11 vacancy committee meeting, Johnston received 64 out of 126 votes on the first round of balloting to win the appointment. Johnston was sworn into office on May 29, 2009. He was later elected in 2010 to complete the rest of Groff's term and was then re-elected in 2012, each time winning more than 82% of the vote. Due to term limits, this would be his last term in the State Senate.
Tenure
In 2010, Johnston championed SB 10-191, legislation that modified teacher and principal accountability by measuring performance in part by student academic growth. The bill was signed into law by Governor Bill Ritter in May 2010. Johnston worked on passing the READ Act, which was signed into law in May 2012. The law provides districts resources to help K-3 students struggling to read by establishing a process for districts to identify K-3 students who read below grade level and work with their parents to provide extra reading support before students reach the fourth grade. The bill also created the Early Literacy Grant Program to provide funding to districts for literacy assessments, professional development, instructional support, and appropriate interventions, and would distribute approximately $16 million to districts for use in one of three literacy support programs: full day kindergarten, tutoring services, or summer school. Johnston was a co-sponsor of the ASSET bill, which allows students not legally entitled to be in the United States to pay in-state tuition at Colorado colleges and universities as long as they attend a Colorado high school for three years and graduate or earn a GED. Under previous law, students not legally entitled to be in the United States, who had graduated from Colorado high schools and had benefited from the state's investment in K-12 education were forced to pay out-of-state tuition. After languishing in the legislature for almost a decade, the bill passed and was signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper in April 2013. "We come here today to close a chapter in American history, and to open a new one," Johnston remarked. "For me personally, there's no more significant bill that I've worked on that's going to make an actual impact on human beings."
2018 gubernatorial election
Johnston ran for Governor of Colorado in 2018. He lost the Democratic primary election to U.S. Representative Jared Polis. After the primary, Johnston endorsed Polis as the Democratic nominee. Polis would go on to defeat Republican Walker Stapleton in the general election.
2020 U.S. Senate election
In January 2019, Johnston entered the race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Cory Gardner. Johnston withdrew from the race in September 2019.
Personal life
Johnston lives with his wife Courtney and their three children: Seamus, Emmet, and Ava. Courtney is a Denver District Attorney who prosecutes crimes against children.
