Chicago City Wire

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO and past Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas is being vocal about the hypocrisy shown by Chicago Teacher’s Union President Stacy Davis Gates.

Davis Gates has been an outspoken opponent of the Invest in Kids scholarship program which provides tax incentives for those donating funds for needy children to attend private schools, while also sending her own children to private schools.

“This isn’t a criticism of the decision to send a child to an alternative school,” Vallas wrote for Illinois Policy.

“Parents must seek what’s best for their children. What’s offensive is teachers union leaders denying better educational choices for parents who, unlike Davis Gates, have neither the resources nor the connections to find better alternatives for their children to the failing and often unsafe neighborhood public school. Davis Gates and the CTU have been adamant opposers of Illinois’ Invest in Kids scholarship program, which provides 9,600 students access to a private school that best fits their unique needs. They have been fighting to let it sunset at the end of 2023.”

“Even worse, union leaders such as Davis Gates and her supporters relentlessly attack school choice advocates, calling them fascists and racists. Recall her latest comments in South Side Weekly, where she warned of fascism encroaching in Chicago and the marginalization of public education, particularly for Black individuals. This stance is clearly aimed at supporters of school choice including supporters of public charter schools.”

Davis Gates has increasingly used racial language in describing private schools like that her family benefits from.

Wirepoints reported Davis Gates called school choice programs “racist.”

“On Twitter, she has said things like ‘School choice was actually the choice of racists. It was created to avoid integrating schools with Black children.’ Private schools are ‘Segregation Academies,’ she wrote on Twitter. ‘Call them private schools supported by taxpayer funds – vouchers – so your northern cousins understand better,’ she said. And she linked to an article titled ’The Racist Origins of Private School Vouchers,’” Mark Glennon wrote for Wirepoints.

Notably, Hispanics are found be over-represented and white under-represented among the number of Invest In Kids scholarships holders while black student participation is in line with state demographics.

Of those currently awarded – 9,348 scholarships in total – 1,365 / 14% went to black students, 2,280 / 24% to Hispanic students and 4,392 / 46% went to white students.

Those facts about the racial makeup of the state and the scholarship holders did not faze one of Invest in Kids main opponents is the Illinois Education Association which has placed ads on Facebook seeking to have funding removed from the school choice program.

In literature used to support its position against Invest In Kids the Illinois Education Association has argued “more white students are helped” by the scholarships, Prairie State Wire reported.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former union organizer and teacher, who narrowly beat Vallas for the city’s top spot, has been paid $390,000 by the Chicago Teacher’s Union over the past five years and continued to be on their payroll up until his election.

Johnson’s candidacy was heavily backed by public sector unions.

Of the campaign donations he received by 93% came from public sector unions and teacher’s unions have given 62% of that worth $5.6 million, according to Illinois Policy.