Failing Upwards: The Perverse Incentives of Teachers’ Unions

ailure gets rewarded when it comes to government unions. Look no further than Stacy Davis Gates, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). She was just unanimously elected to lead the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT).

Her promotion comes despite a track record of presiding over educational disasters in Chicago, where student outcomes are abysmal and public trust in the union has cratered. Failing upwards exposes the rotten core of teachers unions. They focus on power, politics, and protecting adults at all costs, with no regard for kids.

Start with the facts on the ground in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Despite spending roughly $30,000 per student annually, not a single child was proficient in math in 55 schools. Zero kids met basic standards in over 50 schools – failure factories churning out ill-equipped students while taxpayers foot the bill.

According to the Nation’s Report Card, only nine percent of black eighth graders in Chicago are proficient in math. Children are getting shortchanged by a system that prioritizes union demands over actual education.

When confronted with these dismal results during a radio interview, Davis Gates deflected by calling standardized testing “junk science rooted in white supremacy” and claiming it was “born out of eugenics.”