It was almost as if the Chicago Teachers Union was trying to get itself dissolved.
At least that would be an explanation for the union’s 142 pages of exorbitant and ridiculous demands that were recently leaked to the Illinois Policy Institute.
Fox News reported Sunday that the CTU, spearheaded by its president, Stacy Davis Gates, has been planning to demand of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson a series of pay increases and other expenditures that would add up to an eye-watering $50 billion to their next contract.
But that wasn’t all. The union put forth a laundry list of woke pet projects, including mandatory LGBT training for teachers each year, fully covered abortions and new migrant services and facilities.
According to Fox News, total base tax receipts for Illinois in 2023 came to $50.7 billion — meaning taxes for the local citizens would have to double, at least, if the city wanted to accommodate the CTU’s demands.
Teachers in Chicago public schools earn an average of $93,182 per year, according to Illinois Policy.
If the city bends to the will of the CTU, that amount will increase to about $144,620 come the 2027-2028 school year — double that of the median household income in the city.
Illinois Policy reported the union also demanded that unused schools and school floors be converted into housing for homeless students and families and that 180 more “sustainable community schools” be created (despite the failure of 20 such schools in the Chicago public school system already).
The CTU likewise wanted Chicago public schools to create new accommodations and policies for illegal immigrant students, with these students benefiting from the aforementioned free housing.
Should this union’s demands be rejected?
The union also demanded one gender-neutral bathroom per school along with a policy allowing teachers to keep a student’s “gender transition” secret from his or her parents.
And certain school staff would have to be trained each year on LGBT issues so they would be “queer competent,” according to Illinois Policy.
Almost anyone would have found the union’s demands utterly ludicrous on their face.
But as Illinois Policy noted, what makes them more absurd is that most students in Chicago public schools cannot read or perform math at their grade level.
In a statewide assessment last year, it said, nearly 83 percent of students did not meet proficiency standards in math, and three-quarters of students were not reading at grade level.
Despite those failures, the CTU is more focused on trying to push a progressive agenda than improving the academic lot of Chicago students.
How would any of those policies help students get to grade level in reading and math?
Do teachers in a school system where most of the students can barely read deserve to make twice as much as the average citizen?
Of course not.
Chicago should dismiss all of the farcical demands of its teachers union.
