By Townhall Chicago News Staff
The Chicago Teachers Union on Sunday launched a post-election campaign urging state lawmakers to deliver $500 million in additional school funding during the veto session that begins Nov. 17.
The push follows midterm election results that the union said gave its endorsed candidates 10 wins in 14 district races for Chicago’s first fully elected Board of Education, even as billionaire-backed groups outraised the union’s allies by a 5-to-1 margin, according to a letter published by the CTU leadership team.
“Chicago voters also sent a clear message to lawmakers: about 80% said the state should tax millionaires,” the CTU leadership team said in the letter.
The union is asking the General Assembly and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to approve $400 million more for Evidence-Based Funding through a supplemental appropriation and $100 million more for mandated categorical spending, including special education transportation, regular transportation and special education private placement.
Chicago Public Schools’ fiscal year 2027 budget includes $150 million in anticipated additional state funding: $100 million in Evidence-Based Funding to maintain positions restored in August and $50 million to avoid mid-year cuts, according to the letter.
The CTU said Illinois lawmakers have not met their own 2017 commitment to bring every district to at least 90 percent of adequacy within 10 years. That deadline falls this year. Illinois schools are nearly $7 billion short of what the state’s funding formula says students need, and the gap grew by $1.24 billion in a single year, the union said.
Special education funding has also eroded significantly. State reimbursement for special education transportation has dropped from 92 percent to 55 percent since fiscal year 2017, and special education tuition reimbursement has fallen from 96 percent to 62 percent over the same period, according to the letter.
“Illinois has the capacity to do it,” the CTU leadership wrote. “The state is bringing in $1 billion more in revenue than was allocated, and there are billions more in corporate loopholes and tax breaks that legislators can close.”
The union’s committee chairs outlined conditions they said they observe daily in schools: gaps in special education staffing, paraprofessional support and adapted materials; too few social workers, counselors and psychologists; fewer arts programs and out-of-school-time activities; credit recovery instructional time cut from nearly 60 hours to fewer than 30; and continued librarian cuts despite a 2024-2028 contract requiring CPS to add 30 librarians per year.
The letter was signed by CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, Vice President Jackson Potter, Recording Secretary Vicki Kurzydlo and Financial Secretary Dr. Diane Castro. The union is asking members to sign the letter to the governor and General Assembly and to bring it to their Local School Councils.
The veto session is scheduled to begin Nov. 17 in Springfield.
Source: Chicago Teachers Union
