Veto derails democratic rights of local school districts as part of Rauner’s wholesale assault on public education.
CHICAGO, Feb. 28, 2018—The Chicago Teachers Union issued the following statement today in response to the decision by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner to veto HB768, which would secure the democratic right of the state’s school districts to approve or deny charter applications and decide to open or close charter schools. CTU vice president Jesse Sharkey can be cited for attribution:
“The governor embraces local control for municipalities when they seek to crush unions. Yet Rauner demands top-down control for his pet projects — like overruling local school boards’ decisions on how best to manage their schools, shoveling huge tax breaks to billionaires through a school voucher scheme, and smearing the effort to improve school funding for students who have been denied fairness and justice for decades with the dog whistle language of a ‘Chicago bailout’.”
“Rauner simply wants to attack workers in whatever way it’s convenient to him, collateral damage be damned. No wonder he said nothing about the move by Chicago’s unelected school board today to close overwhelmingly Black National Teachers Academy and every public high school in Englewood — a racist move by his wine-drinking pal and former business associate Rahm Emanuel that ultimately means Rauner’s pet charter schools have a better chance to survive.”
The Chicago Teachers Union represents nearly 25,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the nearly 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third-largest teachers local in the United States. For more information please visit the CTU website at www.ctunet.com.
