* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

At the end of the 2024 spring state legislative session, the Illinois Federation of Teachers issued a decidedly diplomatic press release.

Federation President Dan Montgomery praised the new state budget as “crucial for our state’s success” and applauded increases in K-12 and early childhood education funding.

Montgomery did criticize the “meager” increase in higher education funding and called on the state to “ensure full funding for pre-K-12, higher education, and early childhood” programs now.

“The IFT expresses our gratitude to legislators for their hard work and collaboration throughout this session,” Montgomery wrote. He warned, however, that “We are committed to intensifying our efforts and working collectively to identify sustainable revenue streams” to fund public education at all levels.”

Well, after another year of status quo funding increases, the federation’s leadership has apparently decided that diplomacy doesn’t work. Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates was elected to succeed Montgomery at the union’s convention this month in northwest suburban Rosemont. Montgomery had earlier announced he was leaving the union after 15 years at the helm.

Davis Gates said in a news release the new federation leadership is “ready to fight to finally deliver on the promises that politicians in Springfield have made but not kept to our students in every district in Illinois.”
Federation has big asks on funding

What they want, first and foremost, is full and immediate funding of the evidence-based funding formula, which the CTU claims would instantly send an additional $1.6 billion in state money to Chicago schools and $3 billion statewide, money the state does not have. They also want a much better, and expensive, pension deal for Tier 2 retirees.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke at the federation’s convention the day Davis Gates was elected and blistered state Democrats for not stepping up. Johnson is a former CTU staffer and is super-tight with the union.

After saying “I’ve done my part” by recently proposing his own budget plan (which relies heavily on one-time revenues and taxes that may not ever pass), Johnson demanded the state “release” the $3 billion for the funding formula, as if that money were just sitting around waiting to be spent.

“You either support public education or you do not, ” Johnson warned Springfield. “I am tired of lip service when it comes to the education of working people. You will stand for righteousness and stand for public education or get the hell out of the way,” he said to thunderous applause.

“If you believe in a millionaire’s tax, then pass it,” the mayor said, despite the fact that a graduated income tax was rejected by a majority of Illinois voters in 2020.

We haven’t had a federation president who was also a CTU president in 20 years. Chicago leadership had been the norm at the statewide union for years. Those CTU presidents, though often combative and fierce unionists, were not in the same mold as the current CTU president. Davis Gates, a progressive activist at heart, is not exactly known for public diplomatic niceties.

I’ve written before how the Chicago Teachers Union’s close progressive allies have tried using aggressive advocacy at the Statehouse, similar to what they often do at the Chicago City Council. But it has backfired whenever it was tried. All they succeeded in doing was angering state legislators.

Not surprisingly, President Davis Gates’ election caused more than a few gasps and groans among rank-and-file legislators last week. She now leads the largest union in the Illinois AFL-CIO. And the Illinois Federation of Teachers has plenty of members in school districts outside Chicago, both suburban and downstate.

Legislators who looked at what was happening in Chicago with concern from afar could very well now see that happen in their own districts.

And even though the CTU has yet to directly challenge sitting legislators at the ballot boxes, that could change as the statewide union moves into a new era.