Charter schools file lawsuit contesting Illinois’ ‘union neutrality’ clause
Charter schools are suing Illinois leaders over a new law requiring such schools to have “union neutrality” clauses.
HB 1120, sponsored exclusively by Democrat legislators and signed by Gov….

Charter schools are suing Illinois leaders over a new law requiring such schools to have “union neutrality” clauses.
HB 1120, sponsored exclusively by Democrat legislators and signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last August, requires new and renewed charter agreements to have a “union neutrality clause.”
Such clauses prohibit charters from taking “a position on the matter of whether its employees will be unionized,” and require them to provide unions access to school property for union meetings.
The lawsuit, filed June 18 on behalf of three Illinois charter school networks, claims the law violates both the Illinois and U.S. Constitutions.
Defendants in the case are the Illinois attorney general, the State Board of Education and the Chicago Board of Education.
“There is nothing neutral in the Act’s requirements,” the lawsuit reads. “Instead, the Act deprives charter schools, and their employees, of free speech guaranteed under the NLRA [National Labor Relations Board] and the Constitutions and of other federal labor law rights.
“The Act is a gag order that censors charter schools from honestly communicating with their stakeholders, including employees, parents, students, funders, legislators, voters and community members, on significant political and ideological issues.”
The suit alleges charters’ rights to free speech and private property will be violated if the union neutrality clauses are enforced.
Since contract renewals are due on June 30, the plaintiffs are being forced to choose between signing unconstitutional contracts or agreeing to union neutrality language “which would put their existence, including the education of their students and service to Illinois families, at risk.”
The issue is particularly salient in Chicago, where most of Illinois’ charters are located. Roughly 10% of the city’s elementary students and 25% of high school students attend a charter.
The Chicago Teachers Union is notorious for its antagonism toward charters, or any form of school choice. It even tried to commandeer a successful all-boys school for black and low-income students last year.
According to the lawsuit, the union neutrality clause doesn’t benefit anyone – except the union.
“The State of Illinois has not identified any legitimate, rational or compelling interest justifying the Act’s restriction of charter schools’ free speech,” it explained.
“The Act’s content-based restriction on speech is overbroad because it prohibits ‘any’ expression of a position on the matter of employees unionizing, including political and ideological speech, and it restricts speech no matter to whom the speech is directed.”