With Mayor Brandon Johnson now joining Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis‑Gates and Vice President Jackson Potter in attacking Gov. J.B. Pritzker — calling him an “out‑of‑touch billionaire” and worse — will he have the courage to opt Illinois into the federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program that they oppose? That would be payback: sign on to a program the union vehemently opposes which would provide low‑ and middle‑income families with real money to improve their children’s education.
Davis‑Gates has been a relentless critic. During Pritzker’s vetting for a possible vice‑presidential pick, she questioned his commitment to public‑school children — particularly Black children — saying he was “continuing the tradition of denying funding for Black, brown, working‑class and immigrant kids in Illinois’ largest school district.”
Jackson Potter has repeatedly accused the governor’s administration of protecting billionaires and offering large corporate tax breaks while classrooms go wanting. Mayor Johnson has joined those critiques and added a personal swipe: he said the billionaire governor “doesn’t know what it’s like to open a refrigerator and, ain’t no food in it.
CTU leadership’s demands center on securing the funding to cover the union’s new contract; they have sought roughly $1.6 billion in additional state aid for Chicago Public Schools. The governor rejected that demand, saying the state cannot responsibly rewrite the school‑aid formula to cover such a massive recurring increase without adding almost $7 billion to the formula overall.
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