The Chicago Teachers Union released a new report in a virtual news conference Wednesday, combining the highly anticipated Chicago Public Schools “Together We Rise” five-year strategic plan and the union’s contract proposals.
While CTU’s new report takes goals from CPS’ five-year strategic plan and provides more specific “implementation steps,” much of the news conference focused on the ongoing disputes between the district and the union over key financial decisions.
“I don’t know why we have to continue to go back and forth in such vapid ways,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said Wednesday morning.
In mid-September, the Chicago Board of Education unanimously passed a five-year strategic plan to address what the district calls “long-standing issues of equity” and “opportunity gaps.” It included Mayor Brandon Johnson’s — and the district’s — promise to put more resources into neighborhood schools.
At the time, CTU leaders acknowledged they liked many elements of the district’s strategic plan. But facing a serious budget deficit amid ongoing teachers’ contract negotiations, they have sharply criticized CPS CEO Pedro Martinez for not funding all of their contract demands in the $9.9 billion budget approved for the 2024-25 school year.
“What continues to be confounding is that there will be a five-year strategic plan implemented,” Davis Gates said. “Why isn’t it also the opportunity to settle a contract that represents the fullness of the vision of the district? And why not then use that time to create political will to change the ways in which revenue comes to the Chicago Public Schools?”
To outline their report, CTU Research Director Pavlyn Jankov cited the strategies of other states to fully fund education, stressing Illinois ranks 44th in equity rankings. Jankov cited three specific funding recommendations, outlined in the report.
CTU is calling on the city to “De-TIF Chicago.” By ending all city tax increment financing districts, it argues about $1 billion can be returned to schools instead of to “wealthy downtown developers and commercial real estate,” which the union said in the report “shouldn’t get million dollar bailouts when students go without libraries and mental health support.” Martinez has also talked about giving CPS money via surpluses from TIF districts.
The union recommends that the school district bill Medicaid for social workers and mental health services for eligible students to increase mental health services in schools — an option that has always been available to them yet CTU says they haven’t utilized.
Lastly, union leaders argue Chicago should implement progressive tax structures by closing corporate loopholes and ending tax breaks for corporations, to instead stream that revenue to fund education in the city. The report states that by revisiting the so-called fair tax proposal for the state, more than $3 billion would be provided to schools annually.
These three recommendations could instill the framework for fully funding schools during a “historic, transformative moment where there is alignment between the mayor’s office and the Board of Education,” Davis Gates said Wednesday.
Indeed, the union’s recommendations come at a tumultuous moment for the Board of Education, as all seven members resigned earlier in the month over a public financial disagreement between the mayor and the schools’ chief. The mayor asked Martinez to take out a $300 million high-interest loan, which he has said was financially irresponsible. Johnson then appointed a new board, which will meet for the first time Thursday.
When asked about the feasibility of the union’s financial asks, Davis Gates pointed instead to the importance of fully funding schools, specifically for Black and multilingual students and students with disabilities. Teachers and experts spoke in favor of the report.
While the union said it agrees with most of the ideas proposed by the district within its strategic plan, the union’s contract proposals contain suggestions it feels would best improve student learning and achievement.
One recommendation proposed by the union is to provide affordable housing units to homeless students and families on the Chicago Housing Authority’s waiting list. As the largest school district in the state, CPS educates a disproportionate number of students who lack permanent housing, which is why the union wants to address housing within its contract head-on, Davis Gates said.
An “overwhelming number of Black students … have been displaced and harmed by CPS and CHA policies” in the past, the report states. By following the recommendation of the report, the union aims to improve the daily learning experiences and outcomes of Black students, one of the key points within the district’s five-year plan.
Chicago has lost hundreds of thousands of Black residents, said Dr. Dave Stovall, a professor in the departments of Black studies and criminology, law and justice at the University of Illinois Chicago. He stressed the importance of the report for putting forward a process “that will allow community members to look at what is needed in schools and actually develop their plan for the future.”
Dave Stieber, a CPS high school social studies and poetry teacher, said the union has been able to propose a contract that essentially mirrors Johnson’s transition plan and aligns with the district’s five-year plan. With everyone in alignment, Stieber said it’s time for Martinez to “put it in writing” and finally come to an agreement with CTU.
“The district has refused to come to agreements on the vast majority of things in our contract, many of them don’t cost a dollar,” Stieber said. “Some of them do, but our students are worth that investment. It’s beyond time.”
