As long as the CTU controls the Chicago Board of Education, property taxes will continue to rise, student achievement will decline, school choice will disappear, and teachers will remain unaccountable
If there was ever any doubt about who truly runs City Hall, it vanished when Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked Board of Education quietly approved another $40 million property tax increase in a December 30 vote. The public learned of the tax increase only through board members leaking the news to the media. That vote conveniently came after Mayor Johnson secured a record $552 million windfall from Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds to help cover the first year of the Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) historic — and historically expensive — new contract.
CTU-connected board member Debbie Pope defended the increase by claiming it was no more than “what a millionaire might spend on fast food.” That tone-deaf comparison ignores the reality that this $40 million add‑on followed a prior $232 million property tax hike earlier in 2025. Altogether, Mayor Johnson’s allies on the Board have backed $472 million in property tax increases over the past two years while providing the district with an additional $926 million in property taxes siphoned from TIF funds for CPS.
Pope’s relationship with the CTU epitomizes the union’s stranglehold over CPS governance. A retired CPS teacher, she draws a $77,000 pension, earns $40,000 more as a CTU grievance counselor, and receives another $12,000 as a union delegate — all while voting on policies that directly benefit the union. If that’s not a textbook conflict of interest, what is? Voters would do well to remember this when all school board seats, including the president’s, are up for election in 2026.
Pope’s arrogance mirrors the CTU leadership’s broader attitude of entitlement — one that prioritizes expanding membership, benefits, and political power over improving children’s education. It also exposes the emptiness behind Mayor Johnson’s claims he’s “holding the line on property taxes” or making the city “affordable.” The reality is unmistakable: Chicago homeowners are facing unprecedented tax hikes driven by mismanagement and CTU greed.
Residential taxpayers have been hit hardest due to declining commercial property values — a result of remote work, high office vacancies, and Chicago’s nation‑leading commercial property tax rates. This has been aggravated by an appeals system that discriminates against residential property owners. According to the Cook County Treasurer’s Office, nearly $2 billion in tax burden has shifted from business properties onto homeowners since 2021.
Wealthy property owners mitigate the pain by exploiting Cook County’s flawed appeals process. Major commercial landlords file appeals regularly — and often win — cutting valuations and pushing hundreds of millions in tax burden onto ordinary homeowners. In contrast, working-class residents, particularly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, appeal far less often and receive smaller reductions, compounding inequity.
The result? Residential property values rose an average of 16.7 percent countywide in 2025, with spikes of 133 percent in West Garfield Park, 99 percent in North Lawndale, and 82 percent in Englewood. In total, Chicago residential property owners will pay more than $500 million in additional property taxes this year. So much for so‑called state property tax levy caps that are supposed to restrain increases.
Cook County’s corrupt property tax sales system further punishes homeowners by robbing families of generational wealth. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tyler v. Hennepin County that it is unconstitutional for governments to seize full property value beyond the amount owed — a practice Cook County had embraced for decades. Yet County Board President and Democratic Party boss Toni Preckwinkle has taken no action to stop this legalized theft. A federal court reaffirmed the “Tyler” ruling in 2025.
Research from Housing Action Illinois shows that 73 percent of those affected by tax sale evictions in the county’s hardest-hit ZIP codes are Black residents. Yet for the CTU and its political allies, these inequities barely register — unless they can be weaponized for a “tax‑the‑rich” soundbite. Johnson and the CTU have no qualms about regressive taxation that hits working families hardest, as long as it bankrolls pay raises and expands the union’s membership.
The mayor and fellow Democratic leaders such as Preckwinkle are trying to distract voters from these increases. No sooner had the city budget — which includes the mayor’s $522 million TIF property tax subsidy for the record CTU contract and 20 other city tax and fee hikes — been approved, than Johnson returned to his “tax the rich” refrain to deflect attention from property tax spikes. Meanwhile, Preckwinkle seeks cover by advancing token relief programs.
Preckwinkle’s extension of the Cook County Guaranteed Income Program offers only $500 per year to a few thousand residents out of nearly half a million eligible — less than one percent. The county’s new Homeowners Relief Fund gives a one-time $1,000 grant to fewer than 14,000 of the 1.3 million homeowners — and nothing for the 850,000 renters whose housing costs rise with property taxes.
Ironically, these grants are funded by using only $15 million of a record $100 million windfall from late‑payment penalties — crumbs that change nothing. During her 15 years leading the Cook County Board, Preckwinkle has done nothing to reform an inequitable tax system. Instead, she delivered a $265 million fiasco through the politically connected Tyler Technologies property assessment platform, delaying second‑installment tax bills, nearly 70,000 tax refunds, and $2.9 billion in government disbursements.
This latest $40 million CPS tax increase is about the CTU and their “Manchurian Candidate” mayor trying to squeeze every possible dollar from already hard‑pressed taxpayers. In a 2023 speech before the Civic Committee, Mayor Johnson said he measures education success “not in academic performance but by the amount of money schools receive.” With $462 million in Johnson‑controlled school board tax hikes and $962 million from TIFs, the mayor earns an “A” on that front.
Since 2019, CPS has received $2.8 billion in federal COVID aid and $1.9 billion in TIF funds — $4.7 billion total — while losing 11 percent of its enrollment and keeping schools closed for 78 weeks. Even so, CPS continues to raise its property taxes to the levy limit annually, adding $1.4 billion in property taxes — a 40 percent increase. The district’s long‑term plan assumes maximum legal levy hikes through 2030, projecting another $1.2 billion in growth, regardless of state and federal funding increases.
CPS now spends more than $32,000 per student, with property taxes covering nearly $15,000 of that amount. The district employs one full‑time staff member for every 7.3 students and has over 23,000 non‑classroom staff — more than its number of teachers. And what does the district have to show for it? Test scores remain abysmal as the union pushes a compliant board to lower standards and eliminate accountability.
The CTU actively suppresses reform, opposing any initiative that could affect its members’ compensation, workload, or job security. That includes closing near‑empty schools and limiting competition — the mayor’s school board continues to cap public charter school numbers and enrollment, underfund them, and impose mandates that stifle innovation and retention.
The assault even extends to magnet schools, whose high performance and popularity embarrass neighborhood campuses. The irony is glaring: Both public charter and magnet schools offer poor families — most of them Black and Latino — the only alternatives to failing local schools. Meanwhile, city employees bound by residency laws often must pay for private schooling, which averages $172,000 for two children over K–12. Between 30 and 40 percent of CTU members themselves send their own children to private schools.
As long as the CTU controls the Chicago Board of Education, expect property taxes to hit the levy cap every year — feeding a district that resists accountability, punishes excellence, and blocks choice. As long as it controls the mayor’s office, expect record annual subsidies well north of $1 billion to continue unchallenged, forcing the city to raise taxes and fees even more to help compensate for the subsidies.
The tragedy isn’t merely fiscal — it’s moral. Chicago’s working families are being told to “eat cake” while the union elite dine on taxpayer‑funded feasts.
