Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates has chosen to let her son “live out his dream” by putting him in private school, yet she and CTU have a long history of pushing the Illinois General Assembly to deny the same choice to other families.
Chicago Public Schools has received about $1.93 billion in additional state and local funding since the 2018-19 school year, when the Invest in Kids scholarship tax-credit program awarded its first scholarships to low-income students to attend the schools of their choice.
Higher grades are being awarded for less achievement in our schools, which helps hide our students’ struggles since the pandemic. Combine that with teachers unions pushing for fewer accountability measures, and the needed push for academic excellence withers.
Public education has received about $1.98 billion in additional funding since the 2018-19 school year when the Invest in Kids scholarship tax-credit program awarded its first scholarships to low-income students to attend the schools of their choice.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said her child is in private school because the public schools lack resources. So why would she want to force low-income families into those schools?
Stacy Davis Gates conveniently ignores she and other union bosses actively work to deny poor parents the same educational choices they themselves enjoy. While Davis Gates bemoans “unfair choices” for South Side and West Side parents, she fails to acknowledge CTU leadership is primarily responsible for these disparities.
“I want lawmakers to know that some people out here don’t have enough money to better themselves, so they depend on people like Empower Illinois."
According to the Chicago Teachers Union leadership, supporters of school choice for poor children are fascists and racists. What does it say when four out of 10 CTU teachers send their children to private schools, including CTU President Stacy Davis Gates?
Charter schools give low-income and minority students a better shot at success. So why is the Chicago Teachers Union trying to hurt charter schools’ better academic performance at lower cost?
Five Midwest states have enacted or expanded school choice programs since the Invest in Kids Act was enacted in 2017. Now Illinois’ scholarships are set to expire while other programs thrive.
Chicago Public Schools students return to class Aug. 21. Take a look at the state of district proficiency, building utilization, enrollment, student-teacher ratios, absenteeism and finances.
Illinois public school students are at a severe disadvantage. Educational unions here can strike, keeping kids out of school, but that’s not the case in other big cities or neighboring states.
“If it weren’t for the scholarship, he probably would have been home taught. Public school was just not an option for him.”
Contracts at 35 Chicago charter schools represented by the Chicago Teachers Union are up for negotiations this year. CTU, with the help of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and House Bill 1120, is positioning itself to grow its power by diminishing charter schools as an alternative for parents and students.