Chicago Teachers Union

This is what solidarity looks like! From powerful speeches to unwavering energy, our rally showcased the strength of educators and allies united for justice. 💪🏽 We’re building a brighter future for our students, schools, and communities.

Red flag or green flag? 🚩🟢 School Board Edition! We played a little game with CTU members at our House of Delegates meeting to find out what they want (and DON'T want) from Chicago's next school board. Closing neighborhood schools? Taking billionaire campaign cash? Fighting for fully funded classrooms? Our members know a red flag when they see one. On November 3, Chicago voters will elect their first fully elected school board. CTU has endorsed 15 Public School Champions, including Hilario Domínguez for school board president, who are running on a platform of fully funded public schools. The stakes are real. The choices are yours. Make a plan to vote!

Our students just made history. 🎓 83.4% of the CPS class of 2026 graduated on time, up for the second year in a row and double the rate from 25 years ago. 7 in 10 graduates enrolled in college, a record 57.2% earned an early college or career credential, and they’ve already earned nearly $3 billion in scholarships. That’s what happens when students have educators, counselors, paraprofessionals, and support staff in their corner. To every member who helped get them across that stage, to our students who put in the work, and to the families behind them: thank you! We did this together! This is your work, and another example of why billionaires have no place in our schools.

What if our neighborhood schools could offer more than just classrooms? Imagine schools with health clinics, grocery stores, affordable housing, and services that meet the needs of the entire community. School board presidential candidate Hilario Domínguez sat down with Dr. Andrea Parker to discuss how we can reimagine Chicago's public schools as community hubs. Some of these models already exist in Chicago and other cities. The question is how we build on them so more students, families, and neighborhoods benefit. Our schools should be places communities grow around, not buildings we give up on.

When a neighborhood school closes, the entire community feels it. School board presidential candidate Hilario Domínguez sits down with Dr. Andrea Parker to discuss what school closures really mean for Chicago families. Students lose their teachers, families are forced to travel farther, and neighborhoods lose a place that brings people together. In 2013, Rahm closed 50 schools at once, with Black and Brown neighborhoods on the South and West Sides paying the ultimate price. Our students deserve fully funded neighborhood public schools, not another round of closures.

Rest in peace, Dolores Huerta, the legendary civil rights activist and creator of the UFW slogan: “Sí se puede.” ❤️ Huerta was a friend to workers and educators in California and across the country, and the recipient of AFT’s lifetime achievement award at this past year’s convention. Through her work with the United Farm Workers, she helped uplift Chicano, Mexican, and Filipino field workers. Alongside Rev. Jackson Sr., she helped bridge the Rainbow Coalition, marching together in Delano, Chicago, and across the country. Because of Dolores’ work, immigrants and workers secured better wages, improved working conditions, environmental protections, and voting rights.

Illinois promised to fully fund our public schools by 2027. We're almost there, and CPS is still$1.9 BILLION shortof what the state's own formula says our students need. That means schools without enough nurses, educators facing layoffs, and students losing critical services and support. Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed directing approximately $286 million in TIF surplus funds to CPS. Now it's time for Gov. Pritzker and the Democratic supermajority in Springfield to step up and fund our schools. The Illinois General Assembly returns for veto session November 17, with its final scheduled day on December 3.If lawmakers fail to deliver the additional funding our schools need, CPS could face another round of devastating cuts, furloughs, and layoffs as soon as January. 📞 Call your state representative and state senator TODAY.Tell them to prioritize fully funding our public schools during veto session. Our students can't wait.✊🏾

Why do we lose so much, and what do we need to change about how we fight back? Join us at the CTU Center as Rashad Robinson, former longtime leader of Color Of Change, former advocacy head at GLAAD, and one of the country’s sharpest movement strategists, chats with CTU and IFT President Stacy Davis Gates. They’ll talk about why we need lasting structural change and his new book, From Presence to Power: How to Take On the Fights That Matter—and Win. 📅 Thursday, October 29 at 4:30 PM 📍 CTU Center 🔗 Sign up at ctu.sh/power

This Friday: Join us for Baile de Muertos to honor our ancestors, celebrate our culture, and build solidarity! We are celebrating Día de los Muertos with an evening of music, food, dancing, and community. As ICE and federal agents continue to target our communities, we're coming together to celebrate the culture and solidarity that sustain us. This year's Baile will also raise funds for theTrinational Conference in Defense of Public Education, bringing educators and allies together across borders in the fight for strong, equitable public schools. Day of the Dead attire is encouraged but not required. Cocktail or festive attire is welcome, so come dressed to celebrate and ready to hit the dance floor! 🎟️Get your tickets today and celebrate with us! ctulocal1.org/baile #DiaDeLosMuertos

Chicago's working families deserve a city budget that invests in our schools, neighborhoods, and communities. As corporations like Amazon rake in billions, Chicagoans continue to face rising costs and underfunded public services. It's time for corporations to pay their fair share. We're standing in solidarity with thePeople's Unity Platformas they call on city leaders to put working people and our communities first in next year's budget. 🎃Wednesday, October 28 🕠5:30 PM 📍Location TBA 🔗RSVP: bit.ly/GREEDYAMAZON Halloween costumes encouraged!

Chicago lost a giant. Michelle Morales was a fierce freedom fighter, a truth-teller, and a proud Boricua who gave her life to justice for our students, our communities, and Puerto Rico. She believed in women leading, in young people, and in a Chicago that works for working families. Rest in peace, Michelle. We carry her fight forward. ¡Michelle Morales, presente!

“My teachers saved my life.” For Chicago writer, creator and CPS parent Kiki Bryant, a.k.a. @uppity_negress_, those words aren't an exaggeration. Growing up, her neighborhood school was more than a place to learn. It was a safe space. Her teachers knew her family, understood what she was going through at home and made sure she had the support she needed. That's what gets lost when billionaires threaten to close neighborhood schools like they're just buildings. Schools are the heart of our communities, and the relationships built inside them can change lives for generations. Kiki's story is a powerful reminder of what's at stake when we fight to protect and invest in our neighborhood public schools.

📣Join union nurses and community allies for a National Day of Action! We are taking action to call on hospital execs and companies to: - Demand every vote be counted - Refuse ICE collaboration - Divest from the technofascist billionaire class - Protect the right of all your workers to organize The billionaire class is trying to take away our voices and votes because they want to continue taking away our health care to make more and more profits. But we will not let them succeed! Join us to stand up and fight back. Register here at nnu.org/Oct27

Rest in power, DJ Sam Chatman, the Godfather of Steppin’. 🕊️ Chicago’s culture is its strength, and Sam helped build it and keep it alive. Our love goes out to his family and the entire steppin’ community.

Y’all showed up AND showed out! 🔥 Thank you to everyone who came out for our State of the Movement conversation. A huge thank you to Maurice Mitchell and CTU/IFT President Stacy Davis Gates for an honest, powerful conversation about where we are, where we’re headed, and what it’s going to take to get there. This is what it looks like when working families come together. We’re just getting started.

Jitu Brown was fighting for Chicago's public schools long before he had a seat on the school board. For decades, he's stood alongside parents, educators and community members demanding a voice in the decisions that shape their neighborhood schools. That same commitment to grassroots organizing is what he brings to the elected school board today. And that's exactly why this election matters. Chicago fought for an elected school board so our communities could have a real say in the future of public education, not so wealthy donors and corporate interests could buy their way into making those decisions. District 5 deserves a school board member who answers to the people, not the highest bidder. 🗳️ Vote November 3. Elect public school champions! Make a plan to vote at cutlocal1.org/vote

Solidarity wins! ✊🏾✊🏼 Congratulations to our union siblings at CCCTU on reaching a tentative agreement with City Colleges of Chicago just hours before they were prepared to walk off the job! After months of organizing and standing together, faculty and professional staff secured a tentative four-year agreement that includes raises that keep pace with inflation, protections for health care, safeguards around AI, and a path toward free developmental education. This is what union power looks like. When educators stand united and are ready to withhold their labor, they can win real improvements for themselves and the students they serve. From one fighting educators' union to another, CTU stands with you as your members prepare to vote on this agreement.An injury to one is an injury to all!✊🏽 🔗 Read more:wbez.org/education/2026/10/1…

2 WEEKS OUT. We’re officially two weeks away from Election Day and getting closer to a historic moment for Chicago Public Schools. If you’re still getting familiar with the candidates, now is a good time to learn more about the Public School Champions and the communities they represent. Learn more and make a plan to vote at ctulocal1.org/vote

Chicago's neighborhoods have already paid the price for decades of school closures and disinvestment. We cannot afford to go backward. District 2 school board member Debby Pope has been part of the fight to keep neighborhood schools open, particularly in Black and Latino communities that have experienced decades of disinvestment. She knows that closing schools isn't the answer to underfunding them in the first place. Voters have a choice between school board members who will fight for fully funded schools, smaller class sizes and stronger neighborhood schools, or those who support privatization and vouchers. We've seen what happens when our communities are denied the resources they need. It's time to invest in our schools instead of closing them. 🗳️ Vote on November 3 or sooner. Elect public school champions! Make a plan at cutlocal1.org/vote

Early voting begins today in EVERY WARD! 🗳️ With billionaires attempting to buy this school board election, Chicago families need public education champions to protect, preserve, and fight for the schools our students deserve! Make a plan for you and your family to vote early this week! Get started at ctulocal1.org/vote. We did not fight to remove mayoral control over our school board to hand it over to billionaires! Let’s vote for the future of our city.

Jitu Brown was fighting for Chicago's public schools long before he had a seat on the school board. For decades, he's stood alongside parents, educators and community members demanding a voice in the decisions that shape their neighborhood schools. That same commitment to grassroots organizing is what he brings to the elected school board today. And that's exactly why this election matters. Chicago fought for an elected school board so our communities could have a real say in the future of public education, not so wealthy donors and corporate interests could buy their way into making those decisions. District 5 deserves a school board member who answers to the people, not the highest bidder. 🗳️ Vote November 3. Elect public school champions!