Members of the Chicago Teachers Union reelected Stacy Davis Gates and her team Friday, continuing the 15-year-run of the leadership group credited with installing the city’s current mayor and for support of beyond-the-classroom social justice issues.
With one challenger, Gates’ Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators, or CORE, won with 64% of the vote, according to the CTU. It’s better than CORE performed in the last election, when it had two opponents, but not a blowout as some had predicted. The CTU did not say how many members had voted.
CORE credited the victory with the overwhelmingly strong support for the contract deal it recently reached without having to strike or take a strike vote.
In a press release, Gates and her team pointed to several contract wins, including raises specifically for veteran teachers, class size limits and promises to add staff, including more librarians and teachers for English Language Learners.
The next steps, the union leaders said, are to implement the contract and to fight against what they see as attacks by the Trump administration on Black, Latino, immigrants and LBGTQ students.
“We will continue to build the strongest force field around our students, our members, our school communities, our city and our union,” the CTU leadership wrote in the press release. “The greatest protection against attacks — whether it is from an out-of-line administrator or an out-of-line president — is each other.”
The opposition group — Respect, Educate, Advocate, Lead or REAL — supported many of the same social justice issues as CORE, but promised to put more emphasis on bread-and-butter issues, such as salary and teacher complaints. Many REAL members are disgruntled former CORE members.
REAL was hoping to capitalize on the vulnerabilities of CORE going into this election, including that polls suggest low popular support for CTU and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
CTU was in the crosshairs of a nasty fight between the mayor’s office and CPS’ administration over how to deal with the school district’s budget deficit. And during the negotiations, it got into a major disagreement with SEIU Local 73, a sister union that shares the same progressive agenda — a move that REAL denounced.
REAL candidates also criticized CORE for a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to listen to dissent. REAL also took up a call by a more conservative group of teachers for CTU to release financial audits.
Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.