But this massive failure on the part of the schools and the union is not preventing Gates from demanding an absurd
$10.2 billion
or more for the CTU’s new contract.
For context, the State of Illinois
takes in
a bit over $50 billion in tax revenue, So, the CTU thinks it deserves more than one-fifth of the state’s entire revenue.
The CTU, for instance, is
demanding
a 9-percent pay increase, which would make them some of the highest-paid teachers in the state with a guaranteed starting salary of $61,990. But that is just the low end. According to
Chalkbeat
, the average Chicago teacher pay is a whopping $92,500 annually. That is about six thousand dollars higher than the state average of
$86,148 a year
, GovSalaies reports.
Yet, the Chicago schools are some of the worst performing in the state. As Illinois Policy Institute
noted
, more than 21,000 of the city’s 323,00 students don’t have basic competence in math, science, and reading at their grade level.
Indeed, in February, it was reported that 55 of the city’s schools have
zero students
proficient in math and reading.
During a recent forum Gates attended in Chicago’s Morgan Park community, she demanded that the Illinois state government chip in $1 billion in tax dollars for Chicago public schools, but said calling it a “bailout” is offensive.
WATCH: Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates gives opening remarks at this evening’s round of open bargaining between CTU and Chicago Public Schools, says calling her demand for $1B+ in additional funding from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker a bailout is “offensive.”
pic.twitter.com/OT1jD3JMx2
— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg)
August 14, 2024
The CTU also
demanded
that the city schools take out a high-interest, $300 million payday loan that would have cost the city $700 million to repay over a 20-year span. Fortunately, the city schools rejected that idea.
The current contract expired on June 30, but both sides are still negotiating with no end in sight and school administrators are bracing for a teachers’ strike as the school year begins.
However, even as the CTU wants to indulge in a hiring spree, hike teacher pay, and “invest” billions of tax dollars in new spending, the city has been steadily losing students for more than a decade. In 2022, for instance, the school system
lost 8,300 students
. It was the 11th straight year of such losses.
Indeed, many school buildings have been
shut down
and left abandoned because there aren’t enough students to fill them. In 2013, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel shut down 50 schools across the city, and today almost all of them remain empty and unused.
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