James Cirrone writes for DailyMail.com about the latest demands from Chicago’s public school teachers union.
The Chicago Teachers Union’s contract is set to expire in June which will soon prompt negotiations between educators and the school board.
Union President Stacy Davis Gates said in early March that her proposed contract for 2024 to 2028 ‘will cost $50 billion and 3 cents.’
‘And so what?’ Davis Gates added. ‘That’s audacity. That’s Chicago.’
The teachers union is demanding nine percent cost of living adjustments every year.
According to Indeed, the average salary of a teacher in Chicago Public Schools is $67,718. With raises every year for four years, teachers would be getting paid about $95,000 a year by 2028, which is roughly 36 percent higher than the national average.
The $50 billion demand comes despite the fact that Chicago Public Schools spends more than $21,000 per student, far above the national average of $14,347, per the Census Bureau.
And even with the extra $7,000 that Chicago lavishes on its students, the cost doesn’t appear to lead to better academic results.
Only 21 percent of eighth grade students in Chicago’s public schools were proficient at reading as measured by the Nation’s Report Card, which has been cataloguing students’ academic performance across all subjects since 1969.
That’s perhaps partly why Davis Gates has been sending her son to a prestigious private Catholic school, NBC reported in September 2023.
While the 142-page contract written by the teachers union does address ways to increase the proficiency of its students in certain sections, there are also many requests that have more to do with addressing perceived social ills in the community.
For instance, the teachers union wants taxpayer funds allocated to converting unused school facilities into housing for migrants, which they dub ‘families seeking asylum.’ Not only that, but they believe each migrant student should be given $2,000 for help with academics, transportation and mental health counseling.
