* Background is here if you need it. And subscribers know more. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates testified to the Chicago School Board meeting today about its budget vote…
We’ve spent our entire summer, teachers who got layoff notices asking this city to invest in young people. Yesterday, they had an interaction with Speaker Chris Welch, and he said, ‘I have your back.’ And then some reporter went to the Senate President, and he says the same thing. I don’t think you know how monumental it is at this juncture in this fight because I do this every year. I’ve done this every year as an employee of the Chicago Teachers Union since 2011.
That ’some reporter’ was me. And Harmon’s statement was not nearly as emphatic as Welch’s. The Speaker said he was taking the lead in sending more state money to Chicago Public Schools during veto session. Harmon said this…
You will find no greater supporter of public education than the Senate Democratic caucus. The Senate President looks forward to working with our allies and partners to identify resources, and he shared this with the IFT executive board earlier this week.
* Now, let’s flash back to when CTU was vigorously defending the previously embattled House Speaker. From December of 2019…
Alaina Hampton, the political consultant who recently settled a sexual harassment case with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his Democratic organization, is still in a battle with the Chicago Teachers Union. During her suit with the Dems, Hampton had claimed CTU did not hire her because she had been blackballed by Madigan’s organization. Hampton had sought documents from CTU, but the organization initially refused. It eventually was compelled to turn over the documents.
The case is now settled, but Hampton says CTU has continued to disparage her on social media, so her legal team filed a cease and desist order.
Hampton revealed the legal move Monday in a tweet directed to CTU after a spokeswoman described the case as having “factual distortions, hyperbole and outright lies.” The spokeswoman’s tweet was deleted, but not before Hampton responded with her own tweet: “You can’t hide from the truth. That’s one reason my attorneys sent you and CTU a cease and desist for defamation a month ago.”
Background on that story is here.
A familiar playbook is being used right now. But that old battle plan didn’t end well.
- Think Again - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:23 pm:
=Welch support for more CPS money ‘monumental=
Crisis management 101 - gather as many allies as you can before it really hits the fan.
- pragmatist - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:28 pm:
CTU leadership is consistent about who they are. And Alaina is brave.
- Fayette County - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:39 pm:
Maybe CPS shouldn’t have used all that one time money as funding for permanent bills. They dug the hole, let them find their own way out. The rest of the state shouldn’t have to supplement the bad decisions they made.
- Flashback - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:41 pm:
In 2015, the late great Karen Lewis was calling out the unelected school board for banking phantom revenue.
“The moneys that they claim are there aren’t really there, and how do you budget when you’ve got a $500 million hole?” Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis said to reporters Monday. “So you’re going to start school and in November you run out of money? Now what?”
https://news.wttw.com/2015/08/11/karen-lewis-grades-cps-budget-math
Flash forward to 2026. The CTU president is now pressuring the (majority) unelected board to count on phantom revenue.
- Pistol Pete - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:42 pm:
Maybe before asking for more money the stakeholders should work on efficiencies considering 1/3 of all schools are half empty
- Frida's Boss - Thursday, Jul 30, 26 @ 12:43 pm:
CTU has a track record of being more concerned for who they want than for the victims, even when the victims are children. This is not new.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2019/10/04/chicago-teachers-union-didnt-help-investigation-of-student-sexual-violence-consultant-says/
Welch is smart to seek out their help. Could be the only chance he has. SDG controls IFT. They will be sending out their members to do whatever they can to get “those” legislators, as Maze put it, in the suburbs to do what they want.