Chicago Teachers Union leaders will ask its members to walk off their jobs April 1 for a one-day demonstration over contract talks and public education funding, Vice President Jesse Sharkey said Monday.



"We will not go to work on April 1. We will close the schools on April 1," Sharkey said. "What we would hope is that the public joins us and that we see this as a one-day action to fight for school funding."



On Saturday, CTU leaders met with a group of members to discuss a promised "Day of Action" amid halting contract talks with Chicago Public Schools. Sharkey called the one-day walkout an act of civil disobedience designed to marshal support for new taxes and revenue for public education.



The union plans a special meeting of its House of Delegates next week to approve the one-day walkout.



"We're saying that we're arguing for picket lines going up at schools on April 1, and that school would not be in session that day," Sharkey said.



Under state law, CTU cannot strike until the completion of a final phase of contract negotiations known as "fact-finding," which won't be completed until May. School district attorneys say the union has no legal justification to strike outside the authority of state law; the union disagrees.



"It's not a question of legality, it's a question of the moral necessity to do something about a very acute crisis in the city," Sharkey said. "And it's for one day, so if the powers that be are so threatened by tens of thousands of people in the public demonstrating for funding for crucial institutions, then they should be the ones who are ashamed of themselves."



CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said school officials "expect teachers to be in classrooms teaching and students to be in classrooms learning" on the regularly scheduled school day.



"With respect to legal action, CPS continues to look at our options," Bittner said in a statement. "There is no question that a one-day strike before fact-finding concludes is not only illegal, but also not in the best interest of our children."



Sharkey said, "We'll have to see what they actually threaten us with."



CPS has already canceled classes March 25, Good Friday, as one of three furlough days ordered by district CEO Forrest Claypool to save money. Claypool walked back plans to stop paying the bulk of union members' pension contributions, which had prompted a strike threat from the union.



CTU, in bulletins distributed to members during the weekend, called the walkout part of a "fight of epic proportions with labor and community allies to shut down the city and state to demand the revenue our communities deserve for vital services and schools."



The union has cast Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner as its adversaries throughout contract talks, and said it hoped to use the walkout to advance its case against both officials.



"When we make a threat, and back it up, the powers that be take us seriously — and Rahm is already on the ropes," CTU's March 12bulletin said. "Now is the time to add Gov. Bruce Rauner and his millionaire patrons to our primary target list."