Stacy Davis Gates was elected president of the Illinois Federation of Academics Saturday, placing greater than 100,000 academics, faculty school and public workers from throughout the state represented by the union along with her as she plans to demand extra funding for faculties and universities.
As has been the observe previously, Davis Gates will proceed main her personal native, the Chicago Academics Union. At the same time as she has confronted criticism for divisive rhetoric, she mentioned the CTU has expertise bringing collectively individuals who work in vastly totally different faculties and uniting them round widespread functions. She insists she will be able to carry that power to the state.
“Now we have to indicate individuals how you can observe democracy, how you can work throughout our variations, how you can create solidarity based mostly on our collective wants, and I don’t suppose it’s a greater place to try this than with academics from throughout this state,” Davis Gates mentioned in an interview with WBEZ.
Davis Gates and her slate didn’t face any challengers and have been elected by consent on the IFT conference Saturday in Rosemont. Her slate represents Southern Illinois, the northern suburbs of Chicago and better schooling staff.
She replaces Dan Montgomery, who’s leaving to grow to be government director of the American Library Affiliation. He ran the IFT for 15 years.
Davis Gates has forcibly advocated for elevated state funding for faculties, particularly over the past two years with Chicago Public Colleges dealing with finances deficits. Colleges within the state total are much less adequately funded than they have been final yr, in response to the state’s personal system. Her agenda will develop with the IFT. Statewide union organizations just like the IFT manage members and foyer legislators, present coaching for members on issues like how you can discount with administrations and so they help locals in contract fights.
As IFT president, she mentioned she’s going to marketing campaign for extra larger schooling funding. She mentioned schools and universities are severely underfunded, which drives up prices for working households.
She additionally mentioned bread-and-butter union points can be entrance and heart, like medical insurance prices and issues with the present pension system.
Her election will rile some. Davis Gates has been a lightning rod for the correct, and she or he is understood for divisive rhetoric. Some teams have criticized the prospect of her controlling a statewide union. In addition they have questioned whether or not CTU’s aggressive ways and rhetoric will work exterior of Chicago. Having the CTU president run the IFT shouldn’t be new. That was the widespread observe till it modified 20 years in the past.
However Davis Gates’ IFT agenda is just like the platform for the Illinois Training Affiliation, the most important academics union within the state. The IEA additionally has a brand new president after its chief, Al Llorens, died unexpectedly in September.
“Al’s focus was on two primary targets: to proceed our work to grow to be a racially, socially simply group and to construct a sturdy organizing tradition in order that we are able to finest serve all of our college students and members,” mentioned Karl Goeke, who will function IEA president till Llorens’ time period expires within the spring of 2026. If he’s elected this spring, he mentioned he’ll concentrate on reforming the retirement system, amongst different issues.
Robert Bruno, a professor and director of the Labor Training Program on the College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, mentioned it’s important for Davis Gates to imagine the IFT presidency.
“It does allow CTU to have larger affect in transferring the statewide physique to actually handle the insufficient degree of spending on faculties,” he mentioned. “The dilemma is at all times how do you get downstate [representatives] to vote to extend funding. To have IFT, it does form of muscle up their capability to problem the considering that it is just a Chicago concern.”
Bruno additionally notes that poverty has moved out of Chicago and Davis Gates is effectively positioned to make the case for extra funding on behalf of small, poorer districts.
Davis Gates mentioned her caucus, which has been in energy for 15 years, selected to not be on the helm of the IFT 20 years in the past as a result of they trusted Montgomery and former president Karen Lewis was centered on “saving Chicago faculties.”
Davis Gates plans to make use of a shared management mannequin, spreading the work and the facility amongst her group.
Cyndi Oberle-Dahm, who’s president of the Southwest Space Council and was elected IFT government vp, mentioned lots of her 6,000 members in southern Illinois are in districts which, like Chicago, are dealing with funding cuts as federal COVID-19 aid cash runs out. She additionally worries concerning the Trump administration’s cuts to the Division of Training.
“I believe it’s going to place us in disaster mode,” she mentioned. The Southwest Space Council encompasses locals within the southern a part of Illinois.
Oberle-Dahm mentioned most of her members don’t spend a lot time desirous about the CTU, but when they’ve questions, she stresses the commonalities.
“They’re educators, they’re social staff, counselors,” she mentioned. “They’re doing the identical issues that we’re doing. They’re simply doing it in a a lot larger faculty district with a a lot bigger union.”
Pankaj Sharma, president of the North Suburban Academics Union who was elected secretary-treasurer, mentioned there’s a variety of respect amongst their membership for what Davis Gates and the CTU have been in a position to do in Chicago.
“She has tons of expertise, has had tons of success,” mentioned Sharma, who was elected as secretary-treasurer. “She is aware of how you can manage and mobilize individuals.”
Sharma and Oberle-Dahm need IFT to concentrate on altering pension guidelines that require individuals who have been employed after 2011 to attend till they’re 67 years previous to gather a pension and cut back the sum of money they’ll accumulate. They are saying it’s stopping younger individuals from instructing in Illinois faculties and inflicting others to go away the career early.
Sarah Karp covers schooling for WBEZ. Observe her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.
