The Threat the Chicago Teachers Union Poses to Students’ Health and Safety

The CTU's prime concern is increasing its political influence, not students' learning or well-being

The Chicago Teachers Union leadership is working overtime to restore their shrinking public support by escalating fears that the coming federal intervention is akin to a foreign invasion, presenting the CTU as the great protector of Chicago’s public-school children. The CTU CORE leaders and the CORE Caucus are anything but defenders of students. The fact remains that the CTU has never prioritized either the public safety or the educational well-being of Chicago’s students. Instead, the union has by their policies and actions put students at increased risk while inflicting long-term generational damage. Let’s look at the ways.

Lower standards, higher risk

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has already begun dismantling achievement-based accountability. Over the past several years, to the delight of the CTU, Chicago's public schools have slowly abandoned high standards and returned to socially promoting students, grade to grade, all the way to graduation. Only recently, the district scrapped its school ranking system, deemphasized test scores, and shifted to evaluating schools based on vague “social and emotional” metrics. At the same time, CPS is phasing out magnet school programs and performance-based rankings — critical tools that once helped parents evaluate school quality.

This is no accident. It is part of a broader CTU-driven campaign to shield underperforming schools from scrutiny by eliminating clear accountability measures. While state law still requires reporting of standardized test scores, CPS has stopped factoring those results into its internal evaluations. CTU has long opposed testing, and in August 2024, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates infamously labeled standardized assessments as relics of “white supremacy.”

Outside of gutting standards, the union has fought to block school choice for low-income families. The CTU also was instrumental in killing Illinois’ “Invest in Kids” tax-credit scholarship program, which provided poor families with access to private schools. At the same time, CTU continues to work against public alternatives such as charter and magnet schools, effectively cementing its monopoly over education in Chicago. Little surprise that despite socially promoting students to record graduation rates only 31 percent of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) graduates are projected to complete a two-year or four-year college degree within 10 years of high school graduation, according to the most recent projection.

The impact of these choices on crime and public safety cannot be overstated. The strong inverse relationship between education and crime is indisputable. More education leads to higher earnings, better employment, and more stable communities — while lack of education drives criminal activity. Roughly 75 percent of state prison inmates, nearly 60 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates never completed high school. In fact, school dropouts are eight times more likely to be incarcerated than high school graduates. Over 70 percent of prison inmates also cannot read beyond a fourth-grade level. Education is not just an academic issue — it is a public safety imperative.  

School closures and higher crime  

The CTU’s destructive strategy of strikes, walkouts, and forced closures has had direct and immediate consequences on student safety. Since taking power over the CTU in 2010, the CORE Caucus has pursued what they call the “gospel of strike power,” leading the infamous 2012 strike that inspired work stoppages nationwide.

Since the 2012 strike, the CTU has gone on strike twice and illegally walked out three additional times. In 2022, it abruptly abandoned classrooms over COVID-19 protocols with less than 12 hours’ notice, leaving parents scrambling. Ultimately, CTU forced CPS and then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot into one of the nation’s longest school shutdowns — 78 weeks — far beyond the period recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. Enrollment dropped by more than 38,000, compared to just 700 after Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial closure of 50 underutilized schools in 2013. Meanwhile, Catholic and private schools across the city demonstrated that safe, in-person learning was possible.

The effects of pupils shut out of the classroom for 78 weeks were devastating. The University of Chicago Crime Lab documented historic spikes in violence against youth during the shutdown. Murders of school-aged youth increased by nearly 50 percent. Youth arrests for carjackings nearly doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels. There is no coincidence that youth crime declined sharply only after schools reopened. Remote learning and prolonged isolation were not simply academic failures — they became public safety disasters.  

Abuse, accountability, and union obstruction  

Beyond disruptions, CPS continues to be plagued with alarming levels of misconduct among school staff. In 2024, the district’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigated 446 cases of employee misconduct — ranging from sexual harassment and grooming concerns to explicit acts of abuse. This was consistent with the 470 cases reported in 2023.  

Unlike the Archdiocese of Chicago, which responded to its own scandal by adopting strict one-strike policies, offender registries, and rigorous screening protocols, CPS has failed to adopt comparably robust protections. Why? In no small part because of CTU opposition, which has consistently resisted reforms seen as threatening to its members.  

The CTU has even refused to cooperate with studies designed to reduce abuse, prioritizing union protections over student safety. Meanwhile, fiscal mismanagement — including more than $23 million in missing technology equipment reported by the OIG — remains an unaddressed crisis, with little public accountability.  

The demonization of police  

Perhaps most recklessly, the CTU has worked to remove police officers from CPS schools. Through rallies, protests, and political influence, CTU leadership has fueled anti-police rhetoric, falsely portraying School Resource Officers as oppressors rather than protectors. They ignore the fact that 83 percent of CPS students are Black or Latino — the very groups most harmed by rising community violence when schools eliminate safety partnerships with police.  

The timing could not be worse. School shootings in the U.S. have risen dramatically, from 18 in 2008 to 84 in 2022, with more than 300 instances occurring in the last four years alone. I know from direct experience — leading four of the largest school districts in the country — that placing police in schools works. During my tenure, we deployed officers in high schools, many middle schools, and in some cases even elementary schools. We never experienced a school shooting. It is no coincidence.

Yet in Chicago, the CORE Caucus’ pernicious ideology has overtaken safety. School board members influenced by CTU have forced police withdrawals from campuses, leaving students and staff more vulnerable. The union claims these resources come at the expense of the classroom. However, the reality is far different: CPS has never spent more than one percent of its budget on school security through police reimbursements, while annual CPS spending is roughly five times what the city spends on the Chicago Police Department. The financial argument is a red herring.  

CTU Leadership: A consistent obstacle to safety  

From blocking accountability to dismantling educational standards, eliminating school options, inciting illegal strikes, obstructing abuse reforms, and removing police protections, the CTU under CORE Caucus leadership has consistently undermined both student learning and student safety.  

It is plainly evident the priority of the CTU leadership is power and political influence — not the well-being of children. Their rhetoric and actions jeopardize not only the lives of Chicago’s 300,130 public school students but also the safety of staff — including the vast majority of their own union members.