Illinois Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates Gets a Reported 39% Raise to $250,000 While State Reading Scores Lag, Fox News Reports
The Illinois Federation of Teachers board approved the raise, NBC Chicago reported. With her Chicago Teachers Union pay, her total is about $445,000. A free-market think tank criticizes it; the unions did not respond.
The head of the Illinois Federation of Teachers has been given a large raise, Fox News reports, as many Illinois students struggle with reading.
The pay. Citing an Oct. 29 NBC Chicago report, Fox says the IFT Executive Board raised President Stacy Davis Gates's pay from $180,000 to $250,000 a year, nearly 39%. She also leads the Chicago Teachers Union, where public records show she earned just under $195,000. Fox puts her combined pay at about $445,000.
The criticism. Mailee Smith of the Illinois Policy Institute, a free-market think tank, told Fox that the raise reflects "misplaced priorities" and sends more dues money to leadership. She said less than 19% of CTU spending went to representation, and that the raise follows local teachers rejecting a dues hike. Smith also faulted Davis Gates over unpaid utility bills and for sending her own child to a private school while opposing scholarships for low-income families.
The scores. Fox cites 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress results: 30% of Illinois fourth graders and 33% of eighth graders were proficient or better in reading. In Chicago, 23% of fourth graders reached that mark. Fox adds that 46% of Chicago Public Schools students in grades three through eight met reading standards in 2025-26, per the Illinois Policy Institute.
The response. Fox says Davis Gates, the CTU, the IFT and Chicago Public Schools did not respond to its requests for comment.
What we could not check. We have not seen the NBC Chicago report or the union's pay records. The criticism comes from a think tank that opposes the unions' positions, and the unions have not answered it.