The Chicago Teachers Union posted a flyer on social media that misspelled the word “governor,” then scrubbed the posts after critics highlighted the error. The mistake landed in the middle of a debate over school performance, spending and union priorities, and it quickly became a political talking point. This piece walks through what happened, the reactions it provoked, and why critics say the slip-up matters beyond embarrassment.
The union’s official accounts pushed a flyer that began with the line “TELL GOVERNER [sic] PRITZKER.” The error was visible on posts that circulated across multiple platforms before the CTU removed them.
After school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis shared the image, those CTU posts disappeared from view, which only fed the story. DeAngelis captured the flyer and called attention to the glaring misspelling, posting commentary alongside the image branded with the CTU logo.
DeAngelis didn’t just point out a typo. He wrote, “The Chicago Teachers Union doesn’t know how to spell ‘Governor,’” enclosing a photo of the flyer, and his tone made clear this was about competence as much as pride. The political angle was immediate: critics framed the mistake as symptomatic of broader mismanagement inside the district.
The critique went further when DeAngelis added, “If the union can’t handle simple spelling on a flyer, imagine the oversight in their classrooms,” and he labeled the blunder “Beyond parody.” That line was repeated by conservatives who already question union stewardship of public education. The riff landed hard because the union has demanded more money while test scores and literacy rates lag.
Chicago’s academic struggles are well documented and they feed the skepticism. Recent studies found fewer than a third of CPS elementary students reading at grade level, and math scores trailing even farther behind, which fuels the argument that money and union control have not translated into results. Critics use those figures to argue for accountability and a rethink of priorities.
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates has been outspoken on testing, once calling standardized measures “junk science rooted in white supremacy,” a position that inflamed debates about assessment and standards. That stance matters because it signals a philosophical divide over how to judge school performance and whether traditional metrics deserve a role in policy discussions.
The story also touched on school capacity and spending inefficiencies, with reporting showing many schools under-enrolled and districts carrying high per-student costs. Those realities feed political pressure to re-evaluate funding models and to ask whether the current structure delivers value for taxpayers and students. The union’s push for more resources clashes with growing questions about outcomes.
DeAngelis mocked the union leadership with a pointed jab: “Chicago Teachers Union leadership must have graduated from the ‘Quality Learing Center’ – how else do you explain such a glaring error while insisting on more money for ‘education’?” That line tied the CTU’s flyer to other high-profile spelling flubs and underlined the public-relations damage such mistakes create.
He went on to say, “The teachers union is begging for more funding when Chicago already spends over $30,000 per student per year, yet they can’t even spell ‘governor’ correctly on their own materials,” framing the error as evidence of misplaced priorities. The flyer itself urged Governor JB Pritzker to “Make the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share & fully fund our schools,” while also linking to activist petitions and hashtags like #NoKings and #NoBillionaires that pushed a broader political agenda.
