Chicago Teachers Union ignores own mandate for financial transparency

The Chicago Teachers Union hasn’t released an annual audit, required by its internal rules, for at least four fiscal years. What’s happening with members’ dues?

The Chicago Teachers Union is required by its own internal rules to provide an audit of its finances every year.

It has failed to do so for at least four years.

But the union has raised members’ dues – by 13%, to over $1,400, for its 2024 fiscal year.

Those who have dared to question CTU’s finances have been targeted with insults by its president, Stacy Davis Gates. Other members have just left the union altogether.

It’s not a good look for the union: refusing to abide by its own rules, keeping its own members in the dark on union finances and then driving up their dues to pay for whatever the union’s leaders have been doing with the money for at least four years.

And it’s certainly not good legacy-building for Davis Gates, whose first year as union president has been tainted by deficit spending, decreased spending on members, personally cheating Indiana schools out of taxes owed to them and sending her son to a private school while denying that choice to low-income families.

CTU’s bylaws require publication of an annual audit of finances, but there’s been no sign of an audit for at least four years

CTU’s internal rules are clear: an annual audit must be performed and published each year.

Specifically, the CTU financial secretary is required by union bylaws to “furnish an audited report of the Union which shall be printed in the Union’s publication.” Similarly, the CTU Board of Trustees is to “procure each year, a reliable and adequate audit of the finances of the Union for the preceding fiscal year ending June 30, and to deliver a copy of said audit to other major officers and to announce to the membership of the Union that said report may be inspected in the Union office by any member.”

According to one CTU member, the last audit available in the member portal is for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.  Audits for at least four years: 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 are nowhere to be found. When questioned about the missing audits, Davis Gates personally attacked the member, labeling the call for the release of the required audits a racist “dog whistle.”

Since then, the person serving as CTU’s finance director, Kurt Hilgendorf, has responded that the audits for 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 have been procured, but are “just not quite done yet.” He made no mention of the fourth missing audit – for the 2022-2023 fiscal year – which ended June 30, 2023.

That was in September 2023. Nearly five months later, the audits still have not been produced.

Members have ample reason to be concerned with CTU’s finances and Davis Gates’ failed leadership

CTU and Davis Gates were rocked by scandals in 2023. Davis Gates’ performance in her first full year as union president has not inspired confidence; it has caused members to question where and how their dues money is being spent.

First, Davis Gates was exposed for putting her own son in private school while insisting scholarships be taken away that enabled low-income children to attend private schools their families could not otherwise afford. In fact, Davis Gates made killing the “Invest in Kids” program a political priority for the union.

Then it was revealed that for several years she had effectively denied tax funding to Indiana public schools by taking an Indiana property tax deduction reserved for owners who actually occupy their homes. Davis Gates does not reside in the Indiana home she owns and should have been paying four times more in property taxes than she had been set up to pay. The county removed the deduction and is seeking back taxes and a penalty. She missed the Dec. 8 deadline for paying those back taxes. In addition, Davis Gates owes the city of Chicago nearly $5,600 for utilities on her Illinois home. She makes at least $289,000 a year. If her stewardship of the Chicago Teachers Union resembles her handling of her personal finances, members have good reason to suspect their interests are being poorly served under her watch.

And there is evidence to support such suspicion. In a seeming echo of Davis Gates’ personal financial malfeasance, CTU’s financial house is teetering. Under her leadership, the union ran its first reported deficit, spent just 17 cents of each dollar representing members and spent three times more on politics than it did in any previous year reported. When the union bankrolled Brandon Johnson’s mayoral campaign without consulting its members, members started speaking out, and an unfair labor practice complaint was filed by members against their own union.

The union then raised its dues by $160 for 2024, most likely to compensate for its financial missteps.

Davis Gates’ tenure as CTU president has been tainted by financial mismanagement and sketchy personal dealings. Members who want to protect their hard-earned money from her practices can opt out of the union. Information is available at LeaveCTU.com.