Chicago Families Deserve Answers
Chicago students are yet again facing another massive setback in their education. Earlier this month, the entire seven-member Chicago School Board resigned en masse, creating more uncertainty for tens of thousands of families in the country’s third largest school district. On October 8th, four Chicago Teacher Union members filed a lawsuit via Liberty Justice Center for lacking financial transparency. Unfortunately, this is more of the same disruptive chaos that has come to define the leadership of the city and local school system.
During the Covid era, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) did not return to full, in-person schooling for 500-plus days. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) seemed to be sabotaging every attempt to return to normal school schedules, going as far as saying attempts to reopen schools were “rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny.” As late as January 2022, the teacher union caused more unnecessary closures, which were announced right before midnight of the next school day, once again depriving students of consistent schooling. While the union was working hard to keep closed for kids because it was “unsafe,” a “strike captain” union member had no issue traveling to Puerto Rico on vacation as classrooms remained closed. District truancy has skyrocketed to an average of 42 percent over the last three years.
The CTU is now once again wreaking havoc on the city’s school system. This past summer they revealed their outrageous and radical contract demands, which included massive expenditures for non-education related items like stipends of migrant students, electric buses, and carbon-neutral schools. The school system is already facing a half a billion dollar deficit despite receiving $2.8 billion in federal relief funding. According to a Wirepoints analysis, the remaining $233 million will be spent in 2025 and there simply aren’t enough funds to meet the budget, let alone meet the union’s new demands. The 2025 budget is, all in, $9.9 billion. That’s up from $9.4 billion in 2024. While spending nearly $30,000 per student, the district is still facing uncertainty on how to pay for basic academic needs for students.
To cover up the bungling handling of CPS funding, the city’s mayor Brandon Johnson, is now trying to push a high-interest, short-term $300 billion loan to acquiesce to the unreasonable demands of the CTU and manage the massive budget shortfall caused by fiscal mismanagement. When the CEO of the board refused to go along with this reckless plan, it led to all seven members resigning. On Monday October 7th, Chicago's Mayor, Brandon Johnson, appointed six interim board members who will now be tasked with making decisions impacting the more than 600 public K-12 schools across the city. On November 5th, voters in Chicago Public School will for the first time ever elect members to represent 10 new districts. The board will triple in size from its current size of seven up to 21 members beginning in January 2025.
Through all this chaos and uncertainty, it is the families and students who continue to suffer the consequences. Despite returning to pre-2020 levels in reading, overall test scores continue to show students are struggling. According to this year’s results from the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), only 26% of K-12 students were proficient in reading and only 18% were proficient in math. Is the Chicago Teacher Union focused on improving these devastating reading or math proficiencies? No. In fact, looking at a Chicago Teacher Union resolution passed earlier this year, they focused solely on activism stating “all CTU delegates and members in their classroom will participate in the BLM at School Week(s) of Action”. This is unacceptable – students in Chicago need leaders who are robustly dedicated to academics, not political activism.
As these new school board members assume their positions, they owe families answers on how they plan to be accountable to the education of children and not just their own self-serving agendas. How do they plan to increase core subject proficiency? How will they restore stability to a chaotic school system? Can they justify additional spending when increased funding has failed to yield any positive outcome in learning? How will they deliver transparency and accountability to their budget to help avoid fiscal challenges in the future? How do they plan to stand up to CTU when their demands conflict with the academic success of children?
While Chicago families pay the second highest property taxes in the nation, they are left wondering if their K-12 schools will finally put their students’ needs first. Will new leadership on the CPS board of education bring a much-needed pivot rather than continue caving to the demands of activist unions? Will these newly appointed and elected board members deliver a school system focused on helping children achieve their academic potential? More than 330,000 Chicago Public School students are depending on it and all of them deserve it. On November 5th, families in Chicago have an opportunity to have their voices heard.
