Chicago Public Schools has struck a deal with the city’s teachers’ union that turns students into political props. On May 1, a regular school day, children will participate in rallies and civic lessons before being bused to a union rally at Union Park. The agreement promises no retaliation for participants and for joint lobbying in Springfield.
This deal does nothing to advance education. It simply enables the union to use children as pawns to demand more money from the very taxpayers funding the system.
The choice of May 1 is no coincidence. May Day has long been celebrated as a labor and communist holiday (and perhaps it’s a warning cry for a reason). The mask slips when the union schedules its political action on this date. Chicago Public Schools will provide the buses and the time. Taxpayers will foot the bill for the union to lobby against them, using their own children as the foot soldiers in the effort to extract more government funding.
The agreement exposes the cozy relationship between the union and the school district. The Chicago Teachers Union deploys its money and political muscle to handpick candidates for office. The union then pressures the school board, stacked with union allies, to do its bidding. The result is a district that serves the interests of adult employees far more than it serves students.