It Is the CTU, Not Funding, Which Is the Major Obstacle to Quality Education in Chicago
As long as the CTU commands the levers of power over CPS, minority students will suffer most
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates’ latest gambit is to ratify a contract that will induce the complete collapse of CPS finances and thus force the state to intervene and provide Chicago the billions needed for CPS to dig itself out of the rubble. This is a rosy vision, but it will never materialize. Even if willing, with the state facing a budget deficit of $3.2 billion next year, Springfield does not have the money to provide schools statewide with the over $4 billion needed to get the $1 billion Johnson and Davis Gates are demanding. Furthermore, Pritzker has no intention of asking his allies in the General Assembly to raise taxes to pay for a bailout for the CTU’s outrageous contract.
It is time to realize that the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) does not have a revenue problem but a CTU problem. The fact remains the CORE-led CTU has been largely responsible for denying poor children, overwhelmingly black and Latino, a quality education. The CTU and its former lobbyist-made-mayor, Brandon Johnson, remain the greatest obstacle to the district spending its $10 billion, the equivalent to $30,000 per student, in ways that ensures quality school choices for all Chicago children, regardless of income or zip code.
Today, CPS is perhaps the best funded big city school district in the nation, boasting the highest paid teachers and one of lowest staff-to-student ratios among large districts. It receives an astonishing 56 percent of all city revenues and over $1 billion in city subsidies, including a separate dedicated property tax levy to fund its teacher pensions. Since 2019, per-pupil funding has increased 43 percent despite a 9 percent drop in enrollment. During the same period, the district added over 9,000 new staff and today has one full-time staff for every 7.6 students.
