Illinois Federation of Teachers likes trans restrooms; dislikes cops, charter schools
The Illinois Federation of Teachers, the parent union of the Chicago Teachers Union, should be worried about the three Rs, but its main R is “radicalism.” Transgender restrooms, defunding the police and getting rid of charter schools top its radical agenda.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers doesn’t stick to reading, writing and arithmetic: it uses its resources to push controversial social issues.
Here are three examples of IFT advocating controversial issues that might surprise both parents as well as the teachers the union represents.
1) IFT supports boys in girls’ bathrooms
Instead of focusing on reading and math – areas where Illinois’ students are struggling – the union has focused on polarizing issues that buck national trends, including gender ideology.
For example, IFT has proposed eliminating homecoming queens. On March 7, 2020, it promoted asking schools to “consider nonconforming gender identities” through an X post.
On March 31, 2023, IFT shared via X how “unions can lead the fight” in providing bathrooms for transgender workers, writing, “Transgender employees must have access to restrooms that correspond to their gender identity.”
The outcome of such advocacy can be seen in the new CTU contract, which includes a provision allowing all staff and students to use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds to their gender identity. With no guidelines, some parents fear the policy could be abused.
This all comes as polling indicates 79% of Americans oppose transgender athletes competing in women’s sports. Additionally, nearly half favor requiring people to use public bathrooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth.
2) IFT supports defunding the police
IFT’s polarizing stances extend to defunding the police.
In January 2021, IFT promoted funding “counselors not cops” via a flyer. The flyer was then shared publicly via Facebook by the recipient who expressed confusion on IFT’s stance, asking, “Are we all okay with this?”
In Chicago, youth safety is at risk as there was a steady increase in school shootings over 15 years. If police are ousted from schools, this violence could increase.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, there was a 16% increase in support for more spending on policing between 2020 and 2021. Yet IFT takes a stance that runs at odds with the rest of the country.
Likewise, CTU calls for defunding the police, claiming it is “wasting money on things that do more harm than good.” As a significant, agenda-driving force within IFT, CTU went so far as to demand the elimination of all police from Chicago Public Schools, even when some schools still wanted to maintain a police presence.
3) IFT claims charter schools are dehumanizing
Since at least 2017, IFT has worked to strip parents of all educational choices; despite the majority of Americans – including teachers – supporting school choice in some capacity. According to one poll, 70% of school parents and 63% of all adults in Illinois support charter school policies.
Yet IFT has actively worked against school choice, making claims and posts that are inaccurate.
For example, IFT posted via X that “the spread of for-profit” charter schools would not only “lead to the dehumanization of education” but also lead to “resegregation” “in Chicago and elsewhere.” IFT and CTU ignore that charter schools offer a path to academic success, especially for minority families in poverty, while also improving students’ reading and math skills when compared to traditional public school peers.
IFT took to X in 2023 to commend lawmakers for their choice to end the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program that provided privately-funded scholarships for over 15,000 low-income students, maliciously claiming those schools had “discriminatory policies.” At the same time, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates chose to send her own child to a private school.
Then in 2025, IFT applauded the Chicago Board of Education’s resolution to regulate charter schools – a method of making it harder for charter schools to operate.
IFT’s stances once again run contrary to public opinion, including that of the teachers it represents. According to one study, 74% of K-12 teachers who are also members of a teachers union supported another method of educational freedom: education savings accounts. IFT works against teachers’ best interests over and over again.
These are just a few examples of the radical agenda IFT pushes onto districts and other government entities across Illinois.
Public school teachers who are members of IFT, yet oppose the union’s radical stances, have options other than accepting the union’s extreme social agenda.
They can opt out of the union and keep all employer-provided benefits. By opting out, a teacher stops paying dues to the union yet retains all benefits that are provided in the collective bargaining agreement with the school district. What’s more, teachers can get liability insurance and legal protection elsewhere, typically at a fraction of the cost of union membership.
The window to opt out the union and stop paying dues is typically in August. For more information, visit LeaveIFT.com.