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Chicago Teachers Union budgeting millions for ‘political activities,’ according to fiscal report
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The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) appears poised to spend a substantial amount of money on “political activities,” internal documents viewed by Fox News Digital show.
According to CTU’s fiscal report, projecting into June 30, 2026, the union budgeted $3.1 million for “political activities.” In comparison, the union budgeted $152,500 for “training/ workshops,” $260,000 for community events, and $1.2 million for its contract campaign. The largest amount is budgeted for salaries and health insurance.
The Fiscal Year November report, which was obtained by the North American Values Institute (NAVI), was part of a meeting agenda and presentation notes from the CTU House of Delegates meeting held on Jan. 14.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) appears to spend a substantial amount of money on “political activities,” internal documents obtained by Fox News Digital show. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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“CTU funds are public tax dollars, issued from the paychecks of local and state-funded educators. As a public sector union, its mandate is to represent the professional and bargaining interests of teachers — not to bankroll the political agendas of ideological caucuses. It is time for the State of Illinois to provide rigorous oversight and end the gross misuse of taxpayer resources,” said Josh Weiner, chief strategy officer of NAVI.
The CTU is primarily funded by teachers’ member dues rather than directly by taxpayer dollars. Teachers are employees of Chicago Public Schools, which is funded directly by taxpayers.
The meeting and presentation were politically charged.
During the meeting, Vice President Jackson Potter discussed the Trump administration’s intervention in Venezuela and Iran and the killing of civilian Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. “Are you feeling crazy? Cause it is,” a caption says above the slides on the topic.
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Chicago Teachers Union President Stacey Davis Gates delivered an address at the City Club of Chicago on Monday, June 23, 2025. (YouTube Screenshot)
Another slide on the presentation included a flyer titled, “This MLK Day Chicago Resists,” and information about a protest located at Water Tower Park on Jan. 19, demanding on the anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration to “abolish ICE,” “stop the wars,” “tax the rich” and “end the genocides.”
This summer, the union plans an “Environmental Justice Freedom School,” a “two-week educational experiential program offered to high school students in the CPS to develop local school climate action plans.”
Neither the Chicago Public Schools nor the Chicago Teachers’ Union responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The union released its list of endorsements on Feb. 5, backing only Democratic candidates in federal and state elections, including Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who vows to “stand up to Donald Trump and his MAGA cronies,” in his congressional bid. Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is running for re-election in 2027, was backed by the union in his last mayoral election bid.
The union previously made headlines for supporting social justice initiatives, recently being critical of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and generally being vocal on political issues.
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The union budgeted $3.1 million for “political activities” for the fiscal year ending in June. (Chicago Teachers’ Union Fiscal Year November Report)
CTU issued a statement accusing the Trump administration of “normalizing terror” and condemning the “teargassing of students and arrest of an educator at Roosevelt High School.”
Earlier this month, CTU faced backlash from The Washington Post for pursuing social justice initiatives in its school district even as student reading and math proficiency continues to decline.
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Detroit’s QLINE streetcar system: Quick facts to know
Detroit’s QLINE streetcar system offers a 3.3-mile ride along Woodward Avenue, connecting key downtown and midtown destinations with a modern, battery-powered transit option.
More than a decade ago, a juror in a Detroit public corruption trial that ended with three men getting convicted in a $97 million bribery scheme exclaimed: “Hopefully this is the end of this nightmare … this is a whole new beginning.”
It didn’t quite go that way as the following years saw two city councilmen indictments, a dozen school principal bribery convictions, a towing scandal, as well as a toxic dirt and demolition fiasco.
And now there’s this.
In a new criminal filing in U.S. District Court, a former city official in charge of the Detroit People Mover shuttle is charged with taking $300,000 in bribes from a businessmen who reportedly billed the city for work that was never performed — all with the help of his connected associate.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, June 2 in U.S. District Court, the alleged scheme involves 55-year-old Michael Anderson, a former director with the Detroit Transportation Corporation, who allegedly helped Detroit businessman Terrence Parker bill the city for nearly $305,000 in information technology work that was never performed.
Moreover, court records show, Parker’s company has no experience with IT work, but rather performs restoration work on homes damaged by storms and natural disasters. Still, the FBI says, Parker managed to submit 22 phony invoices to the DTC for IT work, including fixing computer monitors — and got paid for all of it. That’s because Anderson was approving his phony invoices from the inside, the government says, and getting money in exchange for his help.
Anderson and Parker both are charged with conspiracy and federal program theft/bribery and face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted. They were released on bond following their initial appearances in U.S. District Court. Their court-appointed lawyer could not be reached for comment.
According to the complaint, Anderson, who was hired by the city in 2022, was in charge of overseeing People Mover operations until he was fired in April for conduct unrelated to the pending criminal case. Parker owns a business called Total Care Restoration (TCR), which performs restoration work on homes damaged by fire, water, windstorms, or other elements.
According to the government, Parker was billing the DTC for information technology services, even though his company has no experience in that field, nor has it ever submitted a bid proposal to the city for such work, or signed any contract with the DTC.
Still, the government alleges, between 2023-25, the DTC paid nearly $305,000 to TCR for 23 invoices it had submitted, 22 of those invoices charged for IT services.
“Anderson approved the invoices and Parker deposited the checks into TCR’s bank account. TCR did not submit any invoices or receive any payments before Anderson was hired as Procurement Director. Likewise, TCR did not submit any invoices or receive any payments after Anderson was fired as Procurement Director,” the complaint states.
According to the government, Anderson did actually procure and manage IT contracts with a number of companies while he worked for the DTC. But TCR was billing the city for work that those companies had been contracted to do.
“At least six TCR invoices listed work that was actually contracted to (another company),” an FBI agent wrote in his affidavit attached to the criminal complaint.
Also noteworthy, the FBI agent writes: “Most of TCR’s invoices contained a charge for debris removal. In my experience, debris removal is a common line item for restoration projects but not for IT work.”
According to the complaint, the FBI figured out that Parker was funneling money to Anderson by reviewing their bank records, and noticing that their deposits and withdrawals coincided. For example, on Aug. 16, 2024, Parker deposited a DTC check for $23,934 and withdrew $18,000 cash. That same day and over the next several days, Anderson made cash deposits into his account for $1,500, $1,300, $1,000, $700 and $1,850.
“There is probable cause to believe that Parker paid Anderson a portion of the money from the TCR invoices,” the FBI agent writes.
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
See surveillance footage of slapping incident at Riverside High School
Demitrios Visvardis, a former paraprofessional, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery for slapping Shrone Dunn, an 18-year-old with cerebal palsy.
Courtesy of Milwaukee Police Department
When family members of a special education student voiced displeasure with a deferred plea agreement for former MPS paraprofessional Demitrios Visvardis in February, they were told it was fair given his lack of prior offenses.
Visvardis was charged with battery four months earlier in connection with an incident involving Shrone Dunn, 18, of Riverside High School.
“This ain’t nothing but a slap on the wrist,” Tyrone Dunn, Shrone’s father, said during the plea hearing. “We’re looking for justice.”
Milwaukee County Judge David Borowski assured Dunn of District Attorney Erin Karshen’s ability to fully prosecute based on what was known.
But records obtained by the Journal Sentinel through an open records request raise questions about Visvardis’s history, and how much was known before the plea deal was reached.
Visvardis has no prior criminal record, but documents in his personnel file at Milwaukee Public Schools reference a 2024 accusation that he struck a special education student.
In a December 2025 letter filed after a disciplinary hearing, MPS hearing officer Natalie Fluker said the November 2025 incident involving Shrone Dunn was “the second time in a year that [Visvardis has] been accused of slapping a vulnerable student.”
The letter references findings made by hearing officer Gary Johnson during disciplinary proceedings related to the 2024 incident.
Earlier incident also involved slapping
According to the December letter, another Riverside High School staff member expressed concern to Principal Jeff Lasky after witnessing Visvardis slap an intellectually disabled student on October 10, 2024. As with the incident involving Dunn, review of security footage confirmed the allegations.
Visvardis physically kept the student on a vent near an exit on the first floor of the school building despite the student’s multiple attempts to get up, according to the letter. Describing the footage, Johnson wrote, “The student appears to scream and you turn and slap him on the face. You then exit the hallway.”
Visvardis apologized for the incident, stating it was the worst thing he’d ever done.
Milwaukee Public Schools failed to report prior incident
According to the MPS employee handbook, the district generally follows a progressive discipline model that depends on the behavior and frequency of occurrences.
Johnson found the first incident to be “especially egregious, considering the unnecessary and excessive force” used on Student A and recommended a departure from the progressive discipline model. The departure meant Visvardis would be issued a three-day unpaid suspension and required enrollment in a course in nonviolent crisis intervention.
The school district did not directly respond to questions from the Journal Sentinel about whether the police were notified of the incident in 2024. It also declined to say whether Student A’s parents were informed or what steps were taken to protect the student following the incident.
“The safety of our students is our highest priority,” Stephen Davis, a media relations manager at Milwaukee Public Schools, told the Journal Sentinel in an emailed statement. “We cannot discuss the details of any personnel matter, and the current administration would not be able to speak about how a prior case was addressed in 2024.”
But according to Milwaukee Police Department records, no report associated with Visvardis exists since January 2021 beyond the report on his arrest on November 13, 2025. That’s the day after Riverside cameras captured footage of Visvardis slapping Dunn “with an open hand to the left side of face,” according to police records.
Review hearing scheduled for this week
Visvardis is due back in court on Thursday, June 4.
According to the deferred prosecution agreement obtained by the Journal Sentinel, he will be eligible to seek employment in a “school, group home or any other place of employment where he would interact with other vulnerable people” this month, given successful completion of an anger management treatment program.
Meanwhile, the Dunn Family has filed a lawsuit against the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Board of School Directors, and Visvardis.
April Quevedo covers Metcalfe Park for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: aquevedo@usatodayco.com.
Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Journal Foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co.
Minneapolis police are investigating a hit-and-run that left a man seriously injured Tuesday afternoon.
The crash happened near Oliver Avenue North and Lowry Avenue North just before 2 p.m., according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
Investigators say an SUV struck another vehicle, which then collided with a motorcyclist. The driver of the SUV then fled the scene.
The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries. Police say the driver of the other vehicle was not injured.
No arrests have been made as of Tuesday night.
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