Stacy Davis Gates’ income is 543% more than families she wants denied scholarships

New data filed with the U.S. Department of Labor shows Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates’ total income tops $289,000. The average household income of families receiving the Invest in Kids scholarships she wants to kill “for good” is just $45,046.

At least 9,600 children receiving scholarships through Illinois’ Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program come from families whose incomes average $45,046 a year.

Compare that to the salary of Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates: over $289,000 a year.

While not all her employers have filed updated reports with the Department of Labor or IRS for the 2023 fiscal year, it is reasonable to expect she makes at least $289,000 – not less.

And that doesn’t include any income earned by her husband.

Davis Gates is paying for her son to attend a private school, which costs $18,000 per student to operate. She is also leading the charge to deny that same choice to those 9,600 low-income students, including 11 of them at her son’s private high school.

Illinois’ only school choice program, Invest in Kids, offers those low-income students a chance to attend a private school when public schools don’t meet their needs. Davis Gates is trying to ensure the program dies at the end of 2023 while she chose to place her own son in private school so he can “live out his dream” of playing soccer and find more academic offerings. The hope for those 9,600 students is state lawmakers save their scholarships during the fall veto session starting Oct. 24.

“We struggled with public schools; the curriculums and most schools not having the resources that the arts can bring to children,” Symara Moses, of Chicago, said. Her daughter, Cortney, attends The Chicago Academy for the Arts thanks to an Invest in Kids scholarship. “Her being able to attend the academy has been life changing and I see her growth every single week. Something new that she’s learning, something that she’s picking up from faculty, staff, other students and just her confidence.”

“If the scholarship sunsets this year, she would not be able to return to the academy,” Moses said. “We just would not be able to cover that amount of tuition and she would have to switch schools.”

Families struggle to pay for private school while still paying taxes to support public schools, but Davis Gates’ income gives her a choice. Her opposition to the Invest in Kids scholarship program, while choosing private school for her own family, is a stunning show of tone-deaf elitism.

With an annual income topping $289,000, Davis Gates can afford her choice. Those receiving the scholarships she wants to kill will be left without one.

If you want to make sure low-income families have a choice about their children’s schools, contact your state lawmakers and ask where they stand on saving Invest in Kids.