Report: Chicago Teachers' Union president sends child to private school

[September 07, 2023]  By Andrew Hensel | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis-Gates, who has been outspoken against the state's school choice program, is sending her child to a private school, according to the Illinois Republican Party and other reports.

Davis-Gates took office in 2022 to lead the third largest teachers union in the country. Since taking office, Davis-Gates has publicly spoken out against the Invest in Kids Act, which allows people to pay for scholarships for students to attend private schools rather than attend public schools in Chicago or throughout the state. Donors get a 75% Illinois income tax credit for their contributions to the program. If legislators do not extend the program, it ends at the end of the calendar year.

Davis-Gates said in 2022 on X, formerly known as Twitter, that school choice was "actually the choice of racists" and that it was designed to "avoid integrating schools with Black children."

Since then, reports indicate Davis-Gates is sending her child to a private school of her choice. The CTU president did not respond to a request for comment from The Center Square or other media outlets.

"This is one of the examples of school choice for me, but not for thee," Ted Dabrowski of Wirepoints told The Center Square. "She is obviously happy to use the choice that she can afford to send her kids away from [Chicago Public Schools], but won't allow other people to have a choice."

A report by Wirepoints showed that 53 schools do not have any students who can do math at their grade level and that at 30 schools, no student can read at grade level statewide.

Dabrowski believes this has played a factor in Davis-Gates' decision not to have her children attend public schools.

"The reality is that when it comes to sending their own kids there [Chicago Public Schools], then there is a big problem," Dabrowski said. "That's because when you look at CPS, just 11 out of 100 Black kids can read at grade level. That is probably something Stacy Davis-Gates does not like and wants to send her kids to better schools."

In 2018, on her X profile, Davis-Gates responded to a New York Times article focused on segregation in schools by calling private schools "Segregation Academies."

"While Davis-Gates advocates against school choice, she sends one of her own children to De La Salle Institute, a private, Catholic high school in Chicago," the Republican Party of Illinois said in a statement. "Yes, you read that right - private school education for her own, while advocating for something entirely different for other children."

Dabrowski said Davis-Gates' decision to send her children to non-CPS schools shows the hypocrisy within the union.

"She has opposed rabidly private school choice and vouchers, and yet she is sending her own kid to one of these schools that she's called segregation academies," Dabrowski said. "It's a real problem, and it shows the hypocrisy of the unions that they run."

Numbers from UnionFacts.com show Davis-Gates made nearly $150,000 in salary alone in 2022.