Half-Empty Chicago Schools, a Union, and an Agenda

The high cost of inaction.

Forty-seven public schools in Chicago operate at less than one-third of their capacities as enrollment numbers continue to decline. Another 150 are half empty. The average cost per student in the district is around $19,000, but for some small schools, it’s double or triple that. Frederick Douglass Academy has 28 students in a building with more than 900 seats, costing $93,000 per pupil. DuSable High School spends about $50,000 per student. Still, Windy City officials are reluctant to shut down these locations, partly because of the widespread outrage following the 2013 closures, an extreme event that has, so far, cost taxpayers more than $7 million. But a bigger reason Chicago is handcuffed on this matter can be boiled down to three letters: CTU.

The Power of the Chicago Teachers Union

Very little happens in the realm of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) without the influence of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). In fact, in this situation, the CTU appears to lurk around every corner, past and present – cause and effect.

Let’s start with 2013, when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 public schools, estimating the closures would save nearly $1 billion within the first decade because the city would not have to repair and maintain the buildings or pay salaries to staff them. Yet 21 abandoned buildings remain, some of which are dilapidated and often vandalized. To make matters worse, “the school board had to take out loans, in the form of bond issues,” to help schools take in displaced teachers. “CPS now pays $25 million each year to pay off those bonds, and may do so for as much as 20 years into the future,” explained NBC5 Chicago in an investigation last fall.

As the story goes, the majority of those schools could’ve stayed open if CTU’s leadership hadn’t persuaded Emanuel to prohibit charter schools from moving onto those campuses. “They wouldn’t approve it,” said the Illinois Policy Institute, “even though public charters were willing to pay rent and enroll the few community students who had attended the schools before they were closed. There were about 126 public charter schools within CPS that were effectively barred from renting any of the closed schools.”

Meanwhile, 30% of the seats in CPS’ open schools are empty, and 60% of the schools are underused. Enrollment in the district is down 9% since 2019, yet the number of CPS employees has increased 26%, according to Wirepoints, an Illinois-based news organization. These nearly empty schools cannot be closed or consolidated, either, not after the CTU accused CPS CEO Pedro Martinez of planning to close and consolidate schools last year, pressuring him to call for a moratorium on school closures until 2027.

“All these schools are barred from closing and their elected Local School Councils have no authority to seek better school models or even consider sharing their buildings,” explained the Illinois Policy Institute. “When CTU says school closures are a problem, they fail to admit they have driven shutdowns, strikes and constant disruptions that have done the real damage. The union’s militant leaders have pressured the district to abandon high standards, accountability and to limit school choice, contributing to the district’s enrollment free fall.”

Wait, the Answer Is More Schools?

One might think the CTU would approve of closings and consolidations so it could more easily “fulfill the union’s per-school staffing demands.” But no, “the CTU doesn’t approve because that would reduce its membership and its power,” said Wirepoints.

Instead of consolidation, CTU wants to develop more. Its recent contract agreement mandates that 50 schools be created: “sustainable community schools.” The model is already used in 20 locations and averages the lowest math and reading proficiency and the highest absenteeism and dropout rate. The contract will also add $1.5 billion total to district expenses over four years, and by the end of its term, teachers’ pay will increase from $86,000 a year to more than $114,000.

CTU also wants to spend $1 billion to upgrade and maintain the 20 emptiest schools, even though “the district says it needs a massive $14.4 billion to address emergency building repairs and to fully renovate all 522 of its public school buildings,” explained Wirepoints. “That’s nearly $5 billion more than the entire annual budget for the district.”

Unless it’s to help push far-left policies like diversity initiatives, students and teachers appear to be an afterthought. In 2024, 80% of CTU’s spending went toward “representational activities.” It spent $1.74 million in an attempt to get union allies in 10 school board seats while negotiating its contract. From July 2023 to June 2024, $2 million went to “political activities and lobbying,” which excludes the final months leading to the presidential election.

“If CTU continues to prioritize power over students,” said the Illinois Policy Institute, “families will continue to flee CPS – and taxpayers will be paying even more as student achievement suffers so resources can be wasted on keeping schools open regardless of the need or the price.”