The United Neighborhood Organization charter school network is hiring 25 more teachers from the national nonprofit Teach for America. But that’s not sitting well with the Chicago Teachers Union.

Earlier this year, the Chicago Board of Education OKed a contract that would allow the district to hire up to 200 teachers from Teach for America. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis railed against that contract. She says those positions should be filled with recently laid-off CTU teachers.

LEWIS: Obviously we’re not under-served or understaffed or under-resourced in terms of teachers, and I thought that was the whole purpose behind TFA—to provide teachers in areas that are under-resourced.

But Juan Rangel with the United Neighborhood Organization says tight budgets mean school officials have to rethink how they staff.

RANGEL: We’re living in an era where we shouldn’t be questioning. We should be really looking at all sorts of alternatives that would benefit children.

Rangel says about half the teachers at UNO’s new Gage Park campus will come from Teach for America.