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.
Dues money collected by local teachers unions rarely stays local. Instead, money flows up to state or national affiliates, where the priorities are politics and union boss expenses – not representing teachers.
Democrats in the Illinois Senate filed a bill to remove student academic growth data as a measure for teacher evaluations. The Illinois Federation of Teachers backs the bill – another effort by the union to obstruct accountability.
After going on strike 63 times in the previous 13 years, Illinois teachers unions gave families a break and didn’t walk out on students in 2024. But the Chicago Teachers Union may change that soon.
A new bill in the Illinois General Assembly would ban employers from penalizing employees who do not show up to sponsored meetings. Employers could face $1,000 fines.
Public and private sector unions in Illinois saw another 27,000 workers reject union membership in 2023. Just 12.8% of public and private-sector workers chose union membership, the lowest it’s been in 34 years on record.
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.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of Illinois state worker Mark Janus in 2018 gave government workers the ability to stop funding government union politics. Chastened unions could have reformed. Instead, they got extreme.
Teachers unions tout support for a constitutional amendment that threatens to raise property taxes over $2,149. Illinoisans already pay the nation’s second-highest property taxes.
Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...