Education
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates on Additional Role Leading the Illinois Federation of Teachers
Teachers across Illinois are getting a new labor leader — a familiar face to Chicago educators.
Stacy Davis Gates was unanimously elected president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) on Saturday. The organization is one of two major statewide umbrella teachers unions in the state. Gates is also keeping her current role as president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
It’s not the first time the head of CTU has led the IFT at the same time. It was common practice until the unions made the separation 20 years ago. Before running for the top job, Davis Gates was IFT’s executive vice president, as was late CTU leader Karen Lewis.
Davis Gates said that at the time, CTU leaders wanted to focus their efforts in the city, but now beliefs have changed.
“I think what the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union believed was that we could concentrate our time in Chicago, professionalizing education, and that their attention to the statewide portions of that would take their attention away,” Davis Gates said. “However, what we found lately — especially as it relates to funding for education — is that the Chicago Teachers Union has to have the power to amplify what’s going on all over the state.”
IFT is an umbrella organization for over 200 local unions in Illinois, including CTU. The union represents teachers and university staff.
Davis Gates replaces Dan Montgomery, who ran the 103,000-member union for 15 years before stepping down to lead the American Library Association.
Some have speculated that she might be aiming to expand her reach even further as president of the American Federation of Teachers, a position currently held by Randi Weingarten.
But Davis Gates lauded Weingarten’s leadership of the national union.
“I think that Randy Weingarten is the teacher in charge of our union that we need,” Gates said. “I’m not looking for less leadership. I’m looking for more leadership, and I’m looking for both wise and bold leadership in this moment.”
Davis Gates’ new role riles some critics who say that CTU’s approach to advocacy and politics could alienate members downstate.
Illinois House Minority Leader and State Rep. Toni McCombie (R–Savanna) voiced concerns about CTU’s expanded power.
“Stacy Davis Gates is bad news for Illinois students,” McCombie said in a statement. “Gates is a left-wing radical who runs Local 1 like a corrupt political machine instead of a force for student achievement and educational excellence. Under her leadership, CTU political spending has skyrocketed while educational outcomes of Chicago Public Schools have deteriorated. We cannot allow Gates to export her far left Chicago agenda to suburban and downstate school districts.”
Davis Gates said that she aims to be a unifying force as students and teachers continue to face challenges with funding uncertainties and the ramping up of immigration raids in the city.
“I think that the state of Illinois needs leadership in this moment to create a united front,” Davis Gates said. “Just today, a 16-year-old American-born student at one of our high schools here in the Chicago Public Schools was detained by ICE. We have bigger fish to fry. We have to keep young people safe.”
The CTU has urged a remote learning option for students to address concerns about federal agents, but Chicago Public Schools rejected that idea. Gates said the CTU will continue to push for it.
Higher education funding is also on Davis Gates’ agenda.
“We don’t even have an adequacy target, quite frankly, in higher education right now,” Davis Gates said. “The adequacy is being met by students taking on the burden of debt and families taking on the burden of debt. The state’s contribution to public education – both K-12 and higher-ed – has been abysmal.”
