Vallas: Hunger strike saved school, but academic neglect starves students
The Chicago Teachers Union’s refusal to close near-empty schools and push for more “sustainable community schools” is hurting student achievement. CTU is about adding members and escaping accountability, not about what’s best for Chicago students.
The Chicago Teachers Union recently marked the 10th anniversary of the celebrated “hunger strike” victory that prevented the closure of the nearly empty Dyett High School.
Lost on the CTU is the harsh reality that despite Dyett boasting an 87% graduation rate and winning a 2A state boys basketball championship, only 2% of its graduates are proficient in reading. None are proficient in math. An alarming 75% of Dyett students were chronically absent – missing more than 10% of the school year.
For far too many Dyett students, education remains a broken promise.
The fight to save Dyett was focused solely on keeping the school open, not on improving its quality. This reflects the CTU’s broader approach to public education: prioritize keeping schools open, expand union membership, increase member benefits and dues, reduce workload and protect jobs.
Student achievement? Not CTU’s priority.
Standardized testing is demonized. As a result, neither schools nor teachers are held accountable for performance.
While Dyett maintains relatively strong enrollment despite its attendance crisis, the CTU’s approach is more egregiously evident at Manley and Douglass high schools. Manley High School, built for nearly 1,000 students, has only 83 enrolled and spends $42,000 per student.
Douglass High School, designed for over 900 students, enrolls just 35 and spends over $93,787 per student. By comparison, Northside College Prep spends $17,500 per student.
Today, over one-third of Chicago’s 474 stand-alone public schools operate at half capacity or less. This is the destructive legacy of the CTU.
Under pressure from the union, the school board – appointed by former CTU lobbyist turned Mayor Brandon Johnson – imposed a moratorium on school closings until 2027. This moratorium blocks consolidations that could reduce costs and expand student services.
Meanwhile, academic performance inexorably declines. Since 2017, when the SAT became Chicago Public Schools’ benchmark for college readiness, scores have plummeted across all demographics and disproportionately impacted Black and Latino students. Only 11% of Black students are proficient in reading and 7% in math; for Latino students, the rates are 18% and 15%.
Families are trapped in failing schools with no alternatives. In response, Black families have fled CPS. Black enrollment in CPS last year was 113,000, slightly more than half the 227,000 recorded in 1999-2000.
The union’s leadership seems intent on perpetuating this failure through its “sustainable community schools” model, which claims to unite educators, families and community partners in a “holistic approach.” Funding isn’t tied to enrollment but instead relies on a “needs-based formula,” allowing resources to flow regardless of enrollment losses.
Currently, 20 schools are “sustainable community schools.” The new teachers contract will grow that number to 70. Despite receiving, on average, more funding than magnet schools and public charter schools, their performance is abysmal. On average, they lag other CPS schools in reading and math proficiency, see higher absenteeism and lower graduation rates.
This raises a critical question: If the community school model is so effective, why isn’t it applied everywhere? Why aren’t all schools open extended hours, partnering with outside groups or providing holistic support? Because they’re not empowered to. CPS’s centralized bureaucracy and rigid union contracts block extended learning time, work-study options and better school models. Local leaders and communities have little real control.
The CTU leadership’s response to this crisis has been to abandon academic standards and accountability. The union has long opposed standardized testing. In August 2024, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said standardized testing was “rooted in white supremacy.” While state mandates force CPS to continue reporting standardized test results, they will no longer factor into internal school assessments.
Previously, CPS considered state assessment results, attendance and graduation rates in their rankings. The district’s abandonment of this system signals a shift away from accountability for student performance. The systematic dismantling of CPS magnet schools is part of this effort, designed to mask performance disparities and avoid uncomfortable comparisons.
Dyett High School’s story is not one of celebration but betrayal. It was saved not to improve but to protect union jobs.
True community empowerment means genuine community schools with autonomy, where funding follows the students. Local school councils, along with principals, have full control over budgets, staffing, school models, programs and partnerships that address the real needs of children and their communities.
Anything less fails the students of Chicago.