Pritzker Foil Stacy Davis Gates to Lead Illinois Federation of Teachers
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates speaks at a union rally this spring. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
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While Governor JB Pritzker is often considered one of the most progressive governors in the state’s history, he has found himself receiving rhetorical arrows from his left. And one of the top archers just got a promotion.
Stacy Davis Gates, the President of the Chicago Teachers Union, was elected Illinois Federation of Teachers president this weekend at the union’s convention in suburban Rosemont.
Gates, an outspoken political operator tied at the hip with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, has made poking Pritzker over school funding a frequent refrain.
She has repeatedly called on Pritzker to “tax the rich,” even after Pritzker spent $50 million of his own personal wealth on the failed progressive tax referendum in 2020.
“The governor, the supermajority in the House and the Senate can figure out how billionaires get to pay more,” Gates told WTTW in August. “So there is money lying around.”
After he rejected a $1.1 billion CTU request for additional funding in 2024, Davis Gates accused Pritzker of “continuing the tradition of denying funding for Black, brown, working class and immigrant kids in Illinois’ largest school district.”
“We heard our governor say ‘no’ to paying what they owe to the schools like Fort Dearborn,” she told reporters outside Fort Dearborn Elementary School in the Brainerd neighborhood in August. “Because I am a teacher, I know that sometimes people have the wrong answer to the right question, and the wrong answer yesterday was ‘no.’
Davis Gates will replace Dan Montgomery, who is stepping down after 15 years as IFT president. Montgomery is well-liked among Democrats in the legislature and the Governor’s office.
The question facing the statewide union is: will the firebrand advocate for CTU hurt statewide funding discussions with her rhetoric aimed at Pritzker?
When asked Monday at an unrelated news conference if he’ll work with Davis Gates and Johnson to raise taxes on wealthy Illinoisans, Pritzker appeared to go out of his way not to mention Davis Gates or Johnson.
“I will work with teachers all across the state of Illinois and I always have,” Pritzker said. “Whoever the elect to represent them, I’m going to sit down when we need to and we’ll talk. I know they’ve got opinions about what we oughta do, what revenues we oughta raise, or how we gotta pay for things.”
Pritzker highlighted that K-12 spending has increased by around $3 billion since he took office in 2019.
An IFT spokesperson did not return a message seeking comment Monday.
With a potentially even more difficult budget year facing lawmakers in 2026 (for Fiscal Year 2027), some lawmakers are concerned a feud between Pritzker and one of the state’s largest teachers’ unions could complicate budget discussions.
“Well, it won’t make it easier, will it?” the Democrat asked rhetorically, asking to remain anonymous as to not ruffle feathers among Pritzker’s staff or IFT. “I hope Stacy doesn’t just poke the bear like she’s been doing for CTU. That’s only going to make our job of passing a budget harder.”
Sources said Pritzker’s team was apparently “not thrilled” with Davis Gates winning the promotion to lead the largest union in the state.
