The Illinois Federation of Teachers spent $46.1 million on Illinois political committees since 2010. Campaign cash went to nearly three-quarters of sitting lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly.
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.
Just 26% of IFT’s spending in 2022 was on representing teachers. IFT’s questionable spending could be why nearly 16,500 Illinois public school employees have chosen to distance themselves from the union.
Government unions and their PACs have spent more than $1 million pushing the progressive tax on the Nov. 3 ballot – and are using misleading information.
Teachers’ unions have provided lots of campaign cash to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who’s been implicated in a bribery scandal. Teachers who don’t want their money sent to a corrupt system can opt out of the union.
Across all five state retirement systems, typical career workers pay for about 5% of the cost of their pension benefits. They receive an average of $1.7 million to $3.6 million.
Not all teachers and support staff at Grayslake Community Consolidated School District 46 want to be on strike. Those who are not members of the union have more options – and more freedom – in deciding whether to walk the picket line.
Educators across the state are exercising their rights, with 12,000 fewer public school employees sending dues or fees to teachers unions today than before the Janus v. AFSCME ruling.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.