The Chicago Teachers Union played a long game with Acero charter schools: unionizing them, undermining them and then taking them over. Now students and parents are left without the charter schools they chose.

The Chicago Teachers Union is the enemy of parents’ rights. It’s efforts to unionize charter schools, push them to the brink of closure and then take them over as typical public schools bears this out.

After the Acero Schools charter network announced it was closing seven of its 15 schools, the union made a show of claiming it supported the parents and students affected.

Now Chicago Public Schools board members – appointed by CTU crony Mayor Brandon Johnson – have unanimously voted to fund the schools to keep them open for the coming school year but transform five of them into CPS-run schools starting in the 2026-2027 school year. The district will evaluate whether to keep the other two open as district-run schools.

Parents should be wary of CTU’s alleged “support.” Parents chose charter schools for a reason. What was offered through the district’s traditional schools wasn’t right for their children. Now, the absorbed schools will no longer be charters.

The Acero situation is no aberration. CTU’s admitted plan: 1) unionize charter school employees, 2) undermine the charter schools and then 3) absorb the schools into the district. It is part of CTU’s years-long anti-charter strategy to eliminate the charter schools they never wanted to exist in the first place.

The result: Removing parental choice in education.

Here’s how it played out.

Charter closures were part of CTU’s plan

CTU admitted its plan was to undermine and close Chicago’s charter schools.

Step 1: Unionize. In January 2018 – the same year Acero’s unionized employees merged with CTU – former CTU President Jesse Sharkey explicitly admitted his motivation to “undermine further charter expansion,” using tactics such as unionizing and merging charter schools into CTU.

Step 2: Undermine. Later that year, CTU employed its go-to tactic in leading Acero’s teachers out on strike, marking the first charter school strike in the nation and cancelling class for the 7,000 students at the 15 schools.

Notably, Acero administrators cite declining enrollment and significant operating costs – two of the many negative effects CTU has also had on CPS – in its closure reasoning. “Unlike CPS, Acero Schools cannot operate with a budget deficit; we must legally balance our budget,” its statement reads.

Step 3: Absorb. After Acero announced schools were closing, current CTU president Stacy Davis Gates claimed she wanted to “save” them by absorbing them into CPS. The school board followed her directive on Dec. 20 and did just that.

Now those charters will no longer exist.

CTU has a long history of anti-parent actions

CTU doesn’t want parents to have the right to make educational choices for their children, which is substantiated by its very public attack on charter schools. Just a few examples: READ FULL ARTICLE AT Illinois Policy Institute!