Teachers union wants $768M Meta settlement used for education funding
[September 01, 2026]
By Sean Reed | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Social media giant Meta agreed to a deal with 47
states to settle a joint lawsuit last week, with Illinois set to receive
up to $768 million.
As the funds were announced, some in the state began calling for it to
be used as additional education funding for a budget-strapped Chicago
Public Schools.
A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general announced a $17.1
billion settlement with Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of
Facebook and Instagram, in a lawsuit over risks its platforms pose to
young users.
Illinois’ portion of the settlement totals $768 million, though the
funds aren’t being directly given to impacted users or their parents.
Instead, the state gets to choose how to use the funds.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers said the new funds could fund a
statewide education gap, which has been a focus of state lawmakers, the
governor and at Chicago Public Schools.
IFT president Stacy Davis Gates, who also serves as Chicago Teachers
Union president, said in a statement that the state should use the funds
for Illinois students.
“The governor has said he supports more funding for education but didn’t
know where it would come from. The settlement with Meta just made that
answer even easier. Schools from Peoria to Belleville to Chicago are
counting on the Governor and the General Assembly to prioritize students
the way we’ve seen them prioritize big tech and billionaire stadium
owners,” Gates said.
CPS is currently running a deficit, but passed a budget last month for
the current school year. That budget relies on $150 million in state
funds not-yet appropriated.
Without a budget passed, the district couldn’t secure a short-term loan
that leaders said will make it possible to give teachers their first
paycheck.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he’s not sure using the funds for CPS’s
deficit would solve the state’s larger problem with funding education.
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A member of the Chicago Teachers Union wears a shirt with the
organization’s logo during a rally at the Illinois State Capitol,
May 15, 2024. Photo: Catrina Barker / The Center Square
“I'm not opposed to contemplating if there's a real required
short-term need filling a small budget hole, but $150 million for
Chicago added on top of what is needed across the state, that's
maybe using all of this one-time money for an ongoing need,”
Pritzker said.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul told the Chicago Tribune last week that
talk of the settlement funds being used any one way is premature,
and his office has said a majority of the funds will go toward
addressing teen social media overuse and other harms presented by
the multi-state lawsuit.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, told the CTU before
the budget passed he doesn’t plan to call a special session, but
said he would back a bill for funding later this year.
“I'm strongly committed in the veto session to supporting the
supplemental funding bill because I know we're all going to be there
for the veto session,” Welch said. “I will lead that effort in the
veto session. We got two weeks in November that we can get it done.”
Following the budget’s passage, Welch said he hadn’t committed a
specific dollar amount to the union.
Pritzker also said the Meta settlement funds wouldn’t solve a wider
lack of funding for education across Illinois.
“One-time money should really be used for one-time needs. And while
I understand that some people may view the shortfall in the budget
in Chicago as a one-time need, it's not,” Pritzker said. “I
understand that education is not the only need that the state has,
and so we've got to invest across what had been a hollowed-out
government.”
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