The Chicago Teachers Union is over five years behind in releasing its ‘annual’ audits, yet its own reporting shows it’s been paying accountants for those audits.
The Chicago Teachers Union’s annual reporting with the U.S. Department of Labor shows it has been paying accountants to conduct its audits.
But it hasn’t released those “annual” audits in over five years.
CTU is required by its own internal rules to provide an audit of its finances every year. But it hasn’t done so since Sept. 9, 2020.
The union reported to the U.S. Department of Labor that it did have an outside auditor conduct an audit in 2025 and that the cost totaled nearly $80,000.
Members have yet to see those audits.
After unsuccessfully seeking the required audits from the union, a group of CTU members filed suit on Oct. 8, 2024. CTU tried to get the lawsuit tossed out, but the judge rejected its request. The court noted the union didn’t even dispute failing to provide the required audits. The suit is pending.
CTU’s bylaws require publication of an annual audit of finances – but CTU keeps members in the dark while spending little on representation
CTU’s internal rules are clear: an annual audit must be performed and published each year.
Specifically, the CTU financial secretary is required in union bylaws to “furnish an audited report of the Union which shall be printed in the Union’s publication.”
Similarly, the CTU Board of Trustees is to “procure each year, a reliable and adequate audit of the finances of the Union for the preceding fiscal year ending June 30, and to deliver a copy of said audit to other major officers and to announce to the membership of the Union that said report may be inspected in the Union office by any member.”
The last audit was released Sept. 9, 2020, and covered through June 30, 2019 Audits for subsequent fiscal years have not been released. When a CTU member raised questions, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates personally attacked the member, labeling the call for the release of the required audits a racist “dog whistle.”
What members do know: just 18 cents of every dollar CTU spent in 2025 was on representing teachers, according to the union’s report filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. The rest was spent on overhead, politics and other union leadership priorities.
That means 82% of the union’s spending is not going toward what should be the union’s main purpose – representing teachers.
A Cook County judge rejected CTU’s early arguments in the case
CTU’s failure to provide required audits led several members to send a demand letter to CTU through their attorneys at the Liberty Justice Center. Instead of providing the required audits, the union engaged in intimidation tactics, singling out the members by name on a member-wide call.
The members then filed suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, and the union filed a motion to dismiss the case.
In rejecting CTU’s motion to dismiss, the judge noted CTU “does not even directly dispute” that it is required by its constitution to provide members with an annual audit. The latest motion by CTU for summary judgment Oct. 6 claims a summary audit was provided that should satisfy the lawsuit, but plaintiffs argue it does not represent a complete audit.
With so little spent on representation and the union paying for audits its members never see, it begs the question: What, exactly, are members paying for?
