"I'm so very happy that the union that I get to serve, the coalition that I get to work with, that we had a hand in expanding democracy," said Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates.
The CTU also has a big hand in try to elect members. According to campaign finance disclosures, eight of CTU's 10 backed candidates have raised the most money. In addition, CTU and union-supported groups have poured close to $2 million into the races.
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"You should be able to just knock on doors and go to forums and make phone calls for school board elections. You should not have to spend hundreds and 1000s of dollars as a candidate to get your voice out," Davis Gates said.
Because the elected school board law did not include caps on spending, Davis Gates said the union had to spend money to compete with millions of dollars of pro-school choice Super PACs are spending against CTU candidates. But it's how CTU spent its money that angered the Illinois State Rep. Ann Williams.
"I was disappointed to see some of the materials put out by the Chicago Teachers Union tying certain candidates that were independent, strong Democrats to MAGA and Trump 2024 everyone knows that's not the case," she said.
Williams helped craft the elected school board law. When the bill passed in 2021, she said she didn't expect the races would result in such discourse, nor did she expect the election would come at a time when a school board quit, a new one was named and, most recently, the new school board president resigned over antisemitic, misogynistic and 9/11 conspiratorial social media posts.
Williams said the chaos has motivated voters.
"People are talking about it in a way they never had before. They're talking about making sure that we have stability for our schools, that we vote for people that are independently minded and are going to do the right thing for the kid, not what's a political agenda," she said.
Elected school board members will take over in January. It will be a hybrid board, so the mayor still has control. He gets to pick 11 members, including president.