chicago teachers union

In response to the federal court ruling that Trump’s use of the national guard in Los Angeles was illegal, President Stacy Davis Gates of the Chicago Teachers Union issued the following:

Today, a federal court confirmed what we have known from the beginning: President Trump's militarization of American cities is immoral, illegal, and rooted in racism not safety.

After Trump’s tyranny in Los Angeles and unconstitutional practices in Washington, DC, if he hasn’t already decided to cancel his occupation of Chicago, this ruling vindicates those who have been standing up to tell him to stay out of our city.

As a union of educators, entrusted with the nurturing and well-being of hundreds of thousands of children, we reject any attempt at an unlawful federal occupation of our city. What we would welcome is leadership at the federal level that fully funds public education, restores SNAP benefits, and expands Medicaid to healthcare for all.
Our members serve and work in every neighborhood in Chicago, and we know what real safety looks like.
Our Mayor is driving down crime rates through investments in the people who live in all seventy seven of our city’s neighborhoods. President Trump has the ability to work with our mayor to fund and expand anti-violence initiatives and provide safe passage for our young people.

Our Mayor is making Chicago safer by reopening mental health clinics, rebuilding school libraries, and creating employment opportunities for young people. We know that when you embrace people and fight poverty instead of criminalizing humanity and dignity, you honor the humanity of people and reduce crime rates, and communities feel safe and supported.

In 2019, our union bargained for sanctuary protections in our contract because we recognized our duty to build a force field to protect our student’s rights against federal attack. This year we expanded those protections to protect Black, LGBTQ, and immigrant students. We fought and won the right to teach the histories and honor the cultures of our students, to invest in Black Student Success, to keep our schools free from police presence, and to expand Chicago’s home grown model of Sustainable Community Schools that sees our communities as villages to involve, not terrains to police.

We will not have either false pretexts of immigration or crime be a reason for Trump’s forces to intimidate or occupy our Black and brown neighborhoods that have been starving for more investment from the federal government in the form of affordable housing and other investment. .

Chicago isn’t asking for troops. We're asking for public education to be fully funded. If President Trump wants to spend an estimated two million dollars a day on Chicago, he can resource Safe Passage programs and expand protections for our special education students. He can restore the Medicaid cuts. He can ensure that young people have access to SNAP benefits and hot lunches. If Trump wants to help Chicago, he can rebuild and fund the Department of Education so that there is recourse if students’ civil rights are violated. He can allocate two million dollars a day to provide affordable housing to those in need.

Whatever plans may come from the Trump administration, Chicago will not be intimidated. Our teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians provide safe spaces for our children. We will be there when their day starts, welcoming them to school and at the end of the day, supporting them to get home safely.

We love our children and our city.

We welcome equity and justice in Chicago, and we will continue to fight for the schools and communities our children deserve.

In response to the confirmation hearing of Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates issued the following,

“Today’s hearing made clear that Donald Trump is not trying to roll the country back to 1950, he is trying to roll us back to 1850. McMahon’s dog whistles, her promotion of segregationist school choice policies, and her boss’ commitment to converting civil rights protections into tools to police students are all reversals of what formerly enslaved Africans fought for and created during Reconstruction after the civil war.

“Educators report to school every day to provide everything possible for students to succeed and we count on the Department of Education to provide financial support for schools serving children in poverty, opportunities for children with disabilities, and oversight to prevent discrimination in our schools.

“Donald Trump and whoever becomes his Secretary should think twice before dismantling the Department of Education. As a social studies teacher, it’s incumbent on me to provide a brief civics lesson: we have a system of checks and balances that prevents them from doing so. But more importantly, this isn’t an obscure federal office. This is a backbone of the government that millions of families with children in our public schools rely on.

“By continuing to come for our public schools, they are further angering the Black families who count on civil rights protections, the families of children with disabilities who rely on federal standards, the families in poverty who rely on federal support, and anyone who is sickened to see queer and transgender students targeted and bullied by the federal government.

“Education is meant to be the great equalizer for our children, not a great investment opportunity for the billionaires ransacking our federal government.

“Our union is already putting protections in our contract and asking our school district to be a partner in building a forcefield around our students. Now that Project 2025 is in the implementation phase and the Senate on its way to confirming a Secretary who will be their rubber stamp, it is now up to governors, mayors, and school districts to be leaders that fill the gap that will be left by Project 2025’s actions that protect the rights of children, support and fund their schools, and defend their education. Families should demand nothing short of it.”