Chicago Teachers Union Presses to Cancel May 1 Classes as Mayor Johnson Signals Support

The Chicago Teachers Union is pressing to cancel classes across Chicago Public Schools on May 1 — May Day — as part of a citywide "Day of Civic Action" to protest federal policy and mobilize unions and immigrant-rights supporters. The push has put the union at odds with city leaders at times, but reporting now shows Mayor Brandon Johnson signaling support for the idea, heightening a public dispute over whether schools should be closed for political demonstrations that would affect students, staff and families across the district of 316,224 pupils. The union frames the action as a response to what it calls an assault on public education, including a proposed $12 billion cut to federal education funding in the 2026 budget that it says threatens K-12 resources.

That potential closure has prompted sharp pushback and a range of reactions online: the union's official account has rallied May Day as a coordinated stand against attacks on workers, immigrants and democracy, while parents and critics on social media argue the move politicizes classrooms and would disrupt AP exams, senior events and daily learning for hundreds of thousands of students. Commentators have also pointed to already high chronic absence in the district — one local journalist noting that about 40% of students and teachers miss 10 or more school days — and research linking teacher strikes and school closures to measurable setbacks in elementary test-score growth (roughly a 2.2% reduction), underscoring concerns about learning loss if classes are canceled.

Coverage of the dispute has shifted from early frames of a straightforward feud between the CTU and the mayor to reporting that emphasizes the mayor's emerging alignment with the union's aims. Earlier pieces stressed conflict and bargaining tensions; more recent coverage, including reporting by major outlets, highlights Johnson's public signaling of support and focuses attention on the broader political stakes — federal funding and immigration policy — that the union has tied to the May Day action. That evolution in reporting changes the story from a local labor dispute to a citywide policy and political flashpoint with implications for families across a diverse district where nearly half of students identify as Latinx and a third as Black.