The Chicago Teachers Union’s internal rules require it to release an audit to members each year. It hasn’t done so since Sept. 9, 2020.
The Chicago Teachers Union’s leaders want teachers to keep parents in the dark if their child asks to go by a different name or pronouns in school. The school district is OK with that.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates decried standardized testing. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said schools should be measured by spending, not performance. ‘Accountability’ is not in their vocabulary.
Chicago teachers were handed a union without the ability to choose for themselves. It’s the result of a system that props up government unions at the expense of the members they are supposed to serve.
It may be based in Chicago, but the Chicago Teachers Union’s lobbying affects residents throughout Illinois. The Illinois General Assembly did CTU’s bidding on 60% of the bills on which the union took a stance last session. CTU discontent is growing.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates had words for state lawmakers, the governor, corporations and financial institutions at a public bargaining session over a new union contract. She said union demands are not a money discussion, but rather about culture.
The federal filings of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and its national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, reveal questionable spending, with little spent on representing teachers, millions spent on politics and deficit spending while the big boss got $500K.
Chicago Public Schools just passed a $9.9 billion budget that spends nearly $30,000 per student. Despite receiving most city property taxes, boosted state funding and about 40% of federal aid, the new teachers contract will put the budget in the red.
The Chicago Teachers Union has funneled over $850,000 to the political committees of 30 of the 50 current Chicago aldermen since 2010. Seven Socialists received the most money.
The Chicago Teachers Union is seeking a $543k property tax cut that would take about $301K from the schools where its members teach. CTU’s also making over $10 billion in contract demands, which would certainly drive up Chicagoans’ tax bills.
Just 13% of IEA’s spending was on representing teachers in 2023. But the spending of its national affiliate – the National Education Association – was even worse, with less than 8% of its spending on representing teachers’ interests.
The Chicago Teachers Union is putting political goals in its contract demands, something not found in other large cities. It is trying to impose policy on the public without elected representatives debating whether the policies will hurt students and taxpayers.