Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates stirred controversy by asserting that children belong to the union in her speech at the City Club of Chicago. “CTU thinks your children are its children. Yes, we do. We do. We do,” she declared, framing the CTU as a dominant force in education.
Davis Gates quoted James Baldwin: “Baldwin says the children are always ours. Every single one of them, all over the globe.” She described the union as nurturing and protective: “We educate them, we nurture them, we protect them, we support them, we negotiate for them, we create space for them. We even have them in our homes.”
But critics say Chicago’s public schools are failing. Corey DeAngelis of the American Culture Project accused the CTU of “educational neglect and abuse,” arguing the union would “lose custody” if judged as a parent. He highlighted declining enrollment and soaring costs per student as proof of systemic collapse.
CTU leaders recently demanded over $50 billion in wage hikes and benefits during contract talks—nearly equal to Illinois’s entire base tax revenue. Meanwhile, CPS operates 47 schools at under one-third capacity, spending about $18,700 per student—some schools even cost $93,000 per pupil.
Despite token enrollment of roughly 325,000 students, the system hemorrhaged 70,000 attendees over the past decade. Observers warn current union demands and rhetoric rank more as power grabs than genuine concern for education.
