Pastor: Teachers’ union, lack of discipline driving Chicago families out of public schools 

Addressing Chicago’s public school crisis – where 35% of buildings are less than half full – starts at the leadership level, argues a prominent clergyman.

“This is America, a capitalist society, where people will always choose what is best for them,” Pastor Corey Brooks, known as the “Rooftop Pastor,” concluded in a recent Fox News commentary.

“No parent wants to drive that extra hour or pay extra fees or tuition, but they will do so for their child’s education. If the public schools want to bring these students back, then they have to buck the existing leadership.”

‘Politics over its teachers and schools’

Brooks, who conducted “94-day and 343-day rooftop vigils” in a mission to transform what was once known as the “O-Block” of Chicago, called out the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and a lack of discipline as key reasons for the enrollment decline, according to the article.

“The head of the union doesn’t even send her own children to the public schools that she oversees,” he noted. “The CTU has continued to choose politics over its teachers and schools time after time.”

As previously reported by Heartlander News, the union is wildly unpopular among state voters, with more than half (56%) reporting a negative opinion.

“In 2025, CTU spent a record $4.2 million on politics and lobbying while spending less than 18% of its total spending on representing teachers,” Brooks wrote. “It poured millions into electing Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer. It then used that alliance to freeze school closings and to fight school-choice initiatives that have been a boon to many poor parents.”

In addition, the union’s focus on far-left political protests has also spurred families to reject the overall system.

“CTU has made the national news several times for using ‘days of action’ to turn kids into activists for whatever left-wing cause is in vogue at the moment,” Brooks lamented. “So why would CTU be shocked when families see all of this political activity and instead choose to get the best education for their children?”

‘Voting with their feet’

Brooks references his own discussions with community children when describing the chaotic classroom environment found in too many public institutions.

“Students stuck in these schools tell me they can’t learn because the teachers cannot control the rowdier kids,” he wrote. “There’s a lack of discipline, and rules are hardly enforced. Some students even tell me that some teachers don’t even try and just pass the kids. So kids know that if they challenge the teachers and make trouble, they will often give up and award them a passing grade.”

At the same time, Brooks is quick to defend the public school educators who are trying their best to educate children but find themselves constrained by their environment.

“I want to be clear that I’m not here to slander teachers. Many of them are excellent, but they will tell you, as they have told me, that they are trapped in a system that does not allow them to teach to the fullest of their abilities.”

In a particularly poignant quote, Brooks recounted the story of one teacher: “I want to teach algebra, and I want to experience that joy when I see a child struggling at the beginning of the year only to become masterful by the end of the year – I don’t want to teach activism.”

Instead, parents simply want their children to learn – which is why “it is easy to see why so many families have opted out of public schools, especially black families,” Brooks explained.

“In the same district, black students in selective enrollment high schools are three times more likely to read at grade level than black students in traditional public schools. When it comes to math, the numbers are even starker. Black students are five times more likely to be proficient in math in selective enrollment schools than their peers in public schools. Parents are seeing the data, and they’re voting with their feet.”

(Image credit: Pastor Corey Brooks, Screenshot/Fox News)