The Illinois Federation of Teachers directed more than 70% of its local affiliate spending to the Chicago Teachers Union in 2025, even though CTU represents just one-third of the organization's membership, according to a report published by the Illinois Policy Institute. The analysis, which draws on the union's federal labor filings, found that IFT's spending priorities favor Chicago overwhelmingly while the majority of its members work in more than 200 districts across the state. Less than 28% of the union's total expenditures went toward representational activities like contract negotiation and enforcement, the report states.
IFT spent $52.3 million total in 2025, with only $14.4 million devoted to representing teachers, the report says. The remaining funds went to politics, overhead, and other union leadership priorities. The union employed 144 officers and staff in 2025, and 65 of them earned salaries exceeding $100,000. Former IFT President Dan Montgomery received over $274,000 between January and his October departure, while newly elected President Stacy Davis Gates earned $100,607 in 2025, in addition to nearly $200,000 as CTU president. Meanwhile, the average teacher salary in Illinois was less than $79,000. IFT reported spending over $1 million on politics in 2025, and during the 2023 Chicago municipal election, IFT, CTU, and the American Federation of Teachers together contributed nearly $6.5 million to local candidates between February 2022 and May 2023.
The report also highlights discrepancies in IFT's membership claims. While the union has stated in multiple press releases that it represents 105,000 members, its federal filing signed in March 2026 under penalty of perjury listed just 89,372 members—a gap of 15,600. According to the report, IFT's membership has never reached 100,000, peaking in 2016 at slightly over 96,000. The union's control structure has also shifted: when Davis Gates became IFT president in 2025, she retained her position as CTU president, effectively merging the two organizations' agendas. CTU acknowledged the alignment, stating the move made "the fight for Chicago Public Schools" more unified with efforts for students statewide.
The report explains that IFT's spending imbalance stems from its leadership structure and political priorities. With Davis Gates leading both organizations, CTU's agenda has become IFT's agenda, the analysis argues, including demands for police-free schools, funding for asylum seekers, and carbon neutrality requirements. This "bargaining for the common good" approach prioritizes progressive policy provisions over traditional wage and benefit negotiations, the report says. For teachers outside Chicago, this means their dues subsidize political spending concentrated in a city where most of them don't work. The report notes that under Illinois law, teachers can opt out of union membership while retaining all employer-provided benefits guaranteed in collective bargaining agreements. Teachers can also obtain liability insurance and job protection coverage from alternative organizations like the Association of American Educators or the Teacher Freedom Alliance at a fraction of union dues costs, though IFT typically limits opt-out windows to August each year.