“Say hey to our newest class of educators in Barrington 220!” | Barrington 220 School District Facebook post August 7, 2025
By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
With the Illinois Education Association’s mid-September opt-out deadline approaching, critics call for a permanent opt-out option instead of yearly reaffirmation, arguing union influence restricts school choice and teacher autonomy in Illinois.
Sarah Fletcher, a former charter school educator and now the Head of School at White Horse Academy, a private school, said her own teaching career trajectory was shaped by a desire to avoid union involvement altogether.
“When we moved here to Illinois from Arizona, I had very little interest in teaching at the public school,” Fletcher said. “Part of that was because I didn’t want to be pressured into or have to be mandated to pay dues. The IEA and IFT, which are part of larger organizations like the NEA, use the majority of their funds not to represent teachers, but for political advocacy.”
Fletcher said she founded White Horse Academy in part to provide a space where teachers wouldn’t be required to hold state certification or pressured into union membership. She says the high cost of dues isn’t justified by what little teachers get in return.
“Oftentimes unions don’t advertise opting out is an option. I experienced something similar in a different sector where there was a union. I was heavily pressured into signing paperwork to pay union dues and was basically told I had no choice,” said Fletcher. “Much of the money from the dues collected fund political agendas, even opposing public and private school options. For example, [state Rep.] Terra Costa Howard, who wrote the homeschool bill HB 2827, received nearly $500,000 from teachers’ unions.”
According to Illinois Policy, Chicago Teachers Union members pay over $1,400 in dues annually, but less than $149 is spent on representing Chicago teachers.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME on June 27, 2018 means teachers nationwide are no longer required to be part of a teachers union in order to keep their jobs.
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