Chicago teachers union unveils $50bn demands including lower standards, $95k salaries and letting schools enact ‘trauma’ closures: Hypocrite leader educates son privately

The Chicago Teachers Union’s contract expires in June, which will soon prompt negotiations between teachers and the school board.

Union President Stacy Davis Gates said in early March that her proposed contract for the period 2024 to 2028 would cost “50 billion dollars and 3 cents.”

‘So what?’ Davis Gates added. ‘That’s courage. That’s Chicago.’

Part of the reason the contract is so expensive is that the teachers union demands 9 percent annual cost-of-living adjustments.

According to Indeed, the average salary of a teacher in Chicago Public Schools is $67,718. If teachers get a raise every year for four years, they would be paid about $95,000 a year in 2028, which is roughly 36 percent higher than the national average.

High school students leave the building during a student strike over Covid-19 safety measures at Chicago Public Schools in Chicago, Illinois on January 14, 2022

The $50 billion demand comes despite the fact that Chicago Public Schools spends more than $21,000 per studentwell above the national average of $14,347, according to the Census Bureau.

And even with the seven additional dollars Chicago spends on its students, the dollars don’t seem to lead to better academic outcomes.

Only 21 percent of eighth grade students in Chicago, public schools were proficient in reading, as measured by the Nation’s Report Card, which has cataloged students’ academic performance in all subjects since 1969.

That may be partly why Davis Gates sent her son to a prestigious private Catholic school, NBC reported in September 2023.

While the 142-page contract, written by the teachers union, addresses ways to increase its students’ proficiency in certain areas, there are also many components that have more to do with addressing perceived social problems in the community.

The teachers’ union, for example, wants taxpayer money to be spent on converting unused school facilities into housing for migrants, whom they call “asylum seeker families.” Not only that, but they also believe that every immigrant student should receive $2,000 for academic, transportation and mental health assistance.

Then-teachers union vice president Stacy Davis Gates speaks during a downtown rally in support of the ongoing teachers strike on October 23, 2019

Only 21 percent of eighth-grade students in Chicago public schools were proficient in reading, according to the Nation’s Report Card

Chicago Public Schools spends more than $21,000 per student, according to the Census Bureau, far above the national average of $14,347

The union also demands that each of the 646 public schools must have a “newcomer liaison” for both new and migrant students.

And for late-arriving immigrants who are unlikely to graduate from high school before age 19, the union wants the school board to work with the City Colleges of Chicago to “create pathways” so they can succeed.

The contract also contains many sections relating to sex and gender issues faced by staff and students.

The union is confident that all counselors, physicians, social workers and psychologists are “queer competent” and “are trained annually on LGBTQ+ issues as a qualification of their job description.”

The union also wants to make it mandatory that every school in the district has at least one gender-neutral toilet.

Gates (pictured) became union president in 2022 and will lead negotiations between Chicago Public Schools teachers and the board over what the next contract should look like

The contract further stipulates that no faculty member may reveal a student’s gender identity to his/her parents if he/she is unaware of it.

And when it comes to gender-affirming health care for staff and their family members, the union wants that to be included. Abortion is also among the health care needs the union wants to see covered 100 percent by the school board.

Aside from gender and health care demands, the union also wants the district to allocate $5 million a year to fund costs associated with reducing workloads for certain staff.

For parents and students fearful of returning to virtual learning, there is a way out that could immerse the entire district back into Zoom classes.

After any “traumatic event” that occurs at a school – traumatic events are not defined – the superintendent will have to meet with the head of the teachers union to discuss closing the school for some time.

“No school will reopen until all necessary supports, both physical and emotional, are in place,” the contract said.

So-called traumatic events will also prevent teachers from being assessed on their performance for an entire calendar year.

It’s not clear whether all or even most of these teacher union demands will make it into the final contract. The current one, which has been in place for the past four years, expires in June.