Editorial: Chicago parents, kids struggle as CTU contract battle drags on

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Jan 27, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have been battling over a new collective bargaining agreement for nine months, a spectacle that has taken the focus off what actually happens in schools every day and placed the spotlight on the adults haggling over money.

Lost in this conversation is the plight of parents and kids, many of whom are feeling not only disenchanted with continued political strife but who also are scrambling to figure out how to make sure their kids’ educational needs are being met.

Blaire Flowers is one of those parents, and she shared her frustrations with the Chicago Tribune along with anxieties about her son, who has an individualized education program. She says he is not receiving speech therapy that he needs. When she pressed the issue, Flowers said she was told there was no vendor to provide services.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “Services are being canceled left and right for our children, and we are the ones that are being left to … keep moving forward while everyone else is just breaking down in front of our eyes. It just doesn’t seem like any of them care about the families that all of this fighting is affecting them.”

What’s clear is that too many parents are frustrated and struggling to navigate the CPS bureaucracy, which can be a minefield even when labor relations are peaceful. Historically, parents whose children have special learning needs have flocked to CPS because of the district’s superior resources. CPS spends a significant chunk of its $9.9 billion budget on IEP needs, as nearly 16% of its student population has an individualized education program. That competitive advantage is at risk, however, if the district can’t get its affairs in order.

Though it continues to add staff, CPS has nearly 40,000 fewer students today than it did before the pandemic. Flowers said she’s considering uprooting her kids for the suburbs if things don’t improve, a dynamic that adds to the district’s enrollment struggles.

No matter what happens at the negotiating table, the new CTU contract cannot distract from the day-to-day needs of Chicago students. Meeting the needs of families like the Flowers’ is in CPS’ long-term best interest, and the city’s education discussion must shift back to prioritizing kids.

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