The Chicago Teachers Union’s Student Voter Army
The union plans to organize high school students and march them to the polls in support of a tax increase.
By The WSJ Editorial Board - Updated March 14, 2024 6:30 pm ET
Chicago high school students may not be reading at grade level, but the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is making sure they know how to vote like union members.
In a letter on Monday, CTU Vice President Jackson Potter said the union would be aiming to “fill CTU HQ with Chicago’s newest voters” for a special “Student Power Forum.” High school students drafted by teachers and staff would be gathered to hear from “candidates/political organizers” and then join a “Parade to the Polls, where students will march to an early voting site . . . making their voices heard along the way.”
This inspiring display of democracy, Mr. Potter’s letter says, would be operated in partnership with Chicago Votes, La Casa Norte and Bring Chicago Home. The latter outfit is pushing to pass a real-estate tax increase referendum on March 19. Chicago news station WBEZ reported that the CTU said the letter’s reference to Bring Chicago Home’s participation was a “mistake.” Whoops.
The Bring Chicago Home referendum, which would raise the real-estate transfer tax to 2% on properties over $1 million and 3% for those over $1.5 million, is supported by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. But that’s not the only reason the CTU likes it. The measure would supposedly raise funds to combat homelessness, but the union has identified it as a revenue source for subsidizing teacher and student housing as well.
In a leaked summary of the CTU’s demands for its next contract, reported by the Illinois Policy Institute, the union notes that CTU Members “have demanded that we have more resources, and what better resources could there be than ACTUAL housing!” Among the key proposals the CTU lists is “Financial assistance for CTU members to live & work in the city.”
“Our campaign begins now with Bring Chicago Home, on March 19 and continues in our contract campaign,” the union adds.
So the CTU has donated $400,000 to support Bring Chicago Home and the union will be marching students to the polls to vote on the referendum. That’s political coercion so explicit even Richard Daley and the old Democratic Party Chicago machine would blush.
