Chicago Public Schools’ decision to significantly shorten the number of years charter schools are allowed to operate before their charters are up for renewal is the latest Chicago Teachers Union effort to destroy public school choice.

After Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates admitted to sending her son to a private school while trying to kill school choice for others, she defended her decision to her union’s members. To be kind, it was misleading. Here’s a fact check of it.

Charter schools give low-income and minority students a better shot at success. So why is the Chicago Teachers Union trying to hurt charter schools’ better academic performance at lower cost?

Contracts at 35 Chicago charter schools represented by the Chicago Teachers Union are up for negotiations this year. CTU, with the help of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and House Bill 1120, is positioning itself to grow its power by diminishing charter schools as an alternative for parents and students.

Chicago Public Schools has a school utilization problem. Over 34% are less than half full, 57% are underutilized, and 5% are overcrowded. Just 35% are at ideal capacity. The Chicago Teachers Union is preventing solutions.

Much attention is rightly being paid to how city policy can address the need to provide young people with meaningful opportunities for work. The stakes couldn’t be higher.