Jim Talamonti at The Center Square reports Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Leaders will keep pushing for more State funding for public education after School Board elections in Chicago - and CTU Members say they will Strike if they need to. With a few precincts still not reported, CTU-backed candidates won at least nine of 21 Chicago Board of Education seats - but fell short of gaining a majority. Jessica Biggs won the election for School Board President over CTU-backed candidate Hilario Dominguez, who told supporters it was one moment in a longer fight. “We ain’t going nowhere. This campaign was something much bigger than one seat on a School Board,” Dominguez said. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said billionaires spent a million dollars a week to support candidates for an unpaid position. Gates said CTU does not just bargain for Sick Time and Personal Days: “See, I’m okay to negotiate when I know that this Union will take it to the picket line if they need to lower class sizes.” Gates said State education funding is billions of dollars in arrears and the rich should pay their fair share: “We will be at a hearing of the House Education Committee to discuss, listen to this, the ($6 billion) that the State of Illinois, our Governor, our General Assembly, owes all of the schools in the State of Illinois.”

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CTU File Photo.