CTU plans to sue CPS over school consolidation

by Paul Kersey The Chicago Teachers Union has announced plans to file a lawsuit to prevent the closure of about 50 Chicago Public Schools buildings. The union is hoping to keep as many buildings as possible open, and in the process preserve its members’ jobs. Even if the lawsuit fails, the litigation could delay the implementation...

by Paul Kersey

The Chicago Teachers Union has announced plans to file a lawsuit to prevent the closure of about 50 Chicago Public Schools buildings.

The union is hoping to keep as many buildings as possible open, and in the process preserve its members’ jobs. Even if the lawsuit fails, the litigation could delay the implementation of the CPS’s consolidation plans for several years.

The one thing that the lawsuit is unlikely to do is to create a consensus as to how a financially struggling school system in a city with a declining population will contend with its challenges and improve its academic performance. The school buildings may stay open, but the problems will remain.

One doesn’t have to approve of the CPS consolidation plan to recognize that the CPS board has to make difficult decisions, and that they should have the authority to decide which programs will run out of which buildings. The CTU is now using its attorneys to interfere in a decision made by the duly appointed school board chosen by the elected mayor of Chicago. And they are using taxpayer-guaranteed funds – in the guise of union membership dues – to pay for for their legal team.

We’ve argued before that government worker unions are bound to get involved in political decisions, and that separating representation from politics is bound to be nearly impossible. This lawsuit is one more illustration of the problem. Even if one sympathizes with teachers who may lose their jobs, in protecting its members, CTU is complicating the running of a school system.

Government worker unions, in particular, should not benefit from guaranteed dues. If teacher union officials want to pursue litigation against the CPS board, they should do it with money they raise on their own.