The union had a 40% success rate on bills it lobbied on during the 104th Illinois General Assembly.

As of Oct. 19, the CTU and aligned groups had spent nearly $1.5 million on 12 of its endorsed candidates.

The Chicago Teachers Union spent more money running itself than on representing its members.

As of Sept. 1, the CTU had spent almost $236,000 on eight candidates running for Chicago Public Schools’ first fully elected school board.

Stacy Davis Gates’ tenure as president of the Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Federation of Teachers has been riddled with scandals. Now, fewer than 1-in-3 Chicagoans have a favorable opinion of the union.

The majority of IFT’s spending is not on representing teachers, according to its own reports. Teachers can opt out of the union during August.

The social media tax in the city’s 2026 budget already faces a lawsuit.

Teacher contracts expire this year in at least 60 districts represented by the Illinois Federation of Teachers — run by CTU President Stacy Davis Gates.

The union helped push a state constitutional amendment in 2022 that allows its contracts to override state law.