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.

IFT represents educators in more than 200 districts across Illinois. But teachers’ zip codes dictate how much support they actually get from the union.

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