By Townhall Chicago News Staff
The Chicago Teachers Union published a post-election call to action Sunday under the headline “Chicago Voted. Now Let’s Win the Funding Fight,” signaling the union plans to leverage the Nov. 3 midterm results to press for increased school funding at the city and state level.
The statement highlighted results from the first fully elected Chicago Board of Education races. CTU-endorsed candidates won 10 of the 14 seats in district races where the union backed a candidate, according to the union’s post, even as opposing groups outspent the union five to one.
“For the first time, Chicago voters chose all 21 members of our Board of Education, and Public School Champions won 10 of the 14 seats in district races where we endorsed,” the union’s leadership team wrote in the post.
The union is organizing a Nov. 18 lobby day in Springfield, where it plans to join Illinois Federation of Teachers members and coalition partners to push lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker to fully fund public schools. The event coincides with the first week of the fall veto session, according to a separate union post.
“We’ll join with our IFT union siblings and coalition partners to push lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker to fully fund our schools,” the union wrote in a Nov. 5 post. “This is the first week of the fall veto session, so we need to make a powerful showing in the capitol.”
The post-election posture from CTU sets up what could become a significant political fight heading into budget season. The union has been a dominant force in Chicago politics, and its success in the school board races gives it an amplified platform to push for state education funding increases.
In an earlier post, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates issued a statement following Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2027 budget address, which included more than $285 million in Tax Increment Financing surplus for Chicago Public Schools, according to the union’s website.
“Chicago Did Its Part. Now It’s Time For State Lawmakers to Do Theirs,” Davis Gates said in the statement, according to the union’s post.
The union also touted CPS’ record 83.4 percent graduation rate for the Class of 2026 as evidence that current approaches are working and deserve continued investment.
“Our students just made history,” the union wrote in an October post. “83.4 percent of the CPS class of 2026 graduated on time, up for the second year in a row and double the district’s graduation rate 25 years ago.”
The union acknowledged being outspent in the school board races, describing the spending gap in stark terms.
“Sitting on the sidelines for the first elected school board in Chicago history was never an option for the Chicago Teachers Union,” the union wrote in a Nov. 4 post. “A seat on the Chicago Board of Education is an unpaid position. Billionaires spent a million dollars a week trying to buy it.”
The Nov. 18 lobby day in Springfield will be the union’s next major public action. CTU is urging members to sign up for bus transportation to the capitol, according to its website.
