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The race is on to license organizations that will raise and dole out scholarship money under a controversial $100 million tuition tax-credit program for private elementary and secondary schools.
Five nonprofit groups have been approved by the state since the filing period opened Dec. 1, barely a month before the five-year program goes live on Jan. 2 for the 2018-19 academic year. One of them is backed by an ally of House Speaker Michael Madigan, real estate developer John Buck and other influential supporters.
And if other states are any indication, Illinois will want to brace for some serious interest.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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