Alas, it’s not all good news on the education front. Get a load of Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, who threatened in a speech this week to the Chicago Civics Association: give us $50 billion or we will shut down the schools.

She arrogantly admits in her speech that this price tag to keep the schools open is “audacity.”

Sounds like she thinks she has a friend in City Hall to carry her water. Oh yeah! The new Chicago Mayor, Brandon Johnson, was formerly a lobbyist for the Union.

Just how “audacious” is this request? According to the Illinois Policy Institute, this is more money than is collected each year in income AND sales taxes.

All personal income tax ($23.7B)
All corporate income tax ($5.8B)
All sales tax ($10.4B)
Total: $38 billion

Our friends at the Illinois Policy Institute remind us this is a school system that already spends $29,000 per student. See chart.

What’s craziest of all is that the unions will probably win. And the schools will continue to be godawful.