Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates mingles at the City Club of Chicago before her speech on March 5, 2024. To no one’s surprise, the Chicago Teachers Union is preparing to ask for a lot — billions more — in the contract negotiations set to begin in earnest shortly. Union President Stacy Davis Gates threw down the gauntlet in an appearance Tuesday before the City Club of Chicago.
Where to even begin with this kind of rhetoric? How about by noting that these “systems” are actually taxpayers’? Each year Chicago Public Schools increases its property tax levy by as much as the law allows and it now accounts for more thanSurely, $50 billion is rhetorical hyperbole. But even given the theatricality of her City Club performance, Davis Gates still is being inappropriately dismissive of hardworking taxpayers.
He should have recused himself from these negotiations in light of the stark conflict of interest. Of course he should. The ethics are clear. But he hasn’t, and we don’t believe he will. So, once reality sets in, the teachers could well be left to decide whether to walk off the job for the third time in the last 12 years. Only this time they wouldn’t be able to use Emanuel or Lightfoot as foils. They would be walking out on their friend and ally. The cards CTU holds in the latest chapter of this multiyear war may not be as strong as they seem.
So, in our view, this eventually will lead CPS and CTU to the inevitable discussion about how to reshape a school district that now is serving far fewer students than it has in decades. There’s an influx of migrant children whose likely addition to CPS needs to be appropriately accounted for. But the elephant in the room for CPS is dozens of schools that are serving 30% or fewer of the students they were built to instruct.