Vallas: Fact check on Stacy Davis Gates’ rationalization for fighting, exercising school choice
Stacy Davis Gates conveniently ignores she and other union bosses actively work to deny poor parents the same educational choices they themselves enjoy. While Davis Gates bemoans “unfair choices” for South Side and West Side parents, she fails to acknowledge CTU leadership is primarily responsible for these disparities.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates recently attempted to justify being both a leading opponent of school choice while deciding to send her own child to a private Catholic high school. Her excuse? Her child would suffer thanks to a lack of quality neighborhood public schools because of underfunding and money being diverted to finance school choice.
That’s some hypocrisy. It deserves dissection.
Foremost, Davis Gates conveniently ignores she and other union bosses actively work to deny poor parents the same educational choices they themselves enjoy. While Davis Gates bemoans “unfair choices” for South Side and West Side parents, she fails to acknowledge CTU leadership is primarily responsible for these disparities. CTU has blocked expansion of charters schools and other school models, effectively leaving families stranded in failing neighborhood schools if they don’t have the financial means to choose private schools or the political clout to choose elite magnet schools.
Davis Gates blames “disinvestment and disparities” for the poor quality of neighborhood schools, but the numbers tell a different story. Chicago Public Schools currently spends nearly $30,000 per pupil, with a 40% increase in per-pupil funding since 2019, despite an 11% enrollment decline. The school district receives well over 50% of all property tax revenue from Chicagoans. So, where is this alleged “disinvestment?”
Davis Gates vilifies charter schools and the state’s modest Invest in Kids school scholarship program, wrongly accusing them of siphoning money from public schools. Money is supposed to follow the children, yet charter schools receive $8,600 less per pupil than traditional CPS schools. This leaves the district with more money per child. The Invest in Kids program is capped at a maximum of $75 million, although it averages closer to $50 million, or less than 1% of what is annually appropriated for K-12 education. Far from losing out, state funding for K-12 education has increased by $1.98 billion since 2017 when the tax credit was enacted.
She bemoans individual school enrollment losses and their impact on program offerings, conveniently overlooking that it’s the CTU that blocks the consolidation of near-empty schools: One-third of Chicago public schools are less than half full. She denies charter schools the use of closed facilities, leaving many empty schools in Chicago’s poorest communities to rot. The CTU even opposes opening state-authorized alternative charter high schools to help older students who dropped out or have been in the criminal justice system.
The CTU’s history of strikes, work stoppages, and 77 consecutive weeks of school closures, combined with its abandoning of accountability for failing schools and underperforming teachers, has systematically degraded the education system. At the same time, CTU leaders pressure school and elected leaders to limit or eliminate public school choice. This is a hostage situation that deprives children of a quality education, because the quality of their schools is determined by ZIP code and family income.
CTU leaders don’t face the same dilemma. Among Chicago Public School teachers with school-age children, nearly 40% enroll them in private schools. Parents must indeed seek what’s best for their children and Davis Gates and Chicago teachers are doing just that. You certainly can’t blame them for being caring parents. But union leaders must stop denying better educational choices to those without the resources or connections to escape failing schools.
In the end, Davis Gates’ hypocrisy is a stark betrayal of Chicago’s children and a glaring example of the CTU’s disregard for their futures.
Chicago needs to expand charter and other school options. State lawmakers must save the Invest in Kids tax-credit scholarships that give low-income families a shot at their children escaping poverty.