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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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We fixed the glitch. So CPS won’t be receiving a paycheck anymore. So it’ll just work itself out naturally.
We waste so much money trying to educate the children of our state in the face of unions who don’t really care about teaching, administrators, many of whom are there for a cushy union like job, and parents who look at school as daycare.
Make CPS pay or make them declare bankruptcy…
You make it all seem so easy to create a new, workable educational system. It isn’t, and there are lots of reasons for it! For instance, what would that new system do that’s so greatly superior in theory at least? Where would you get the new, excellent work force that is better qualitifed and motivated than what we have at present? Would their sense of motivation last? How would you monitory their progress individually? To the extent that you want the monitoring to be stringent, ongoing and truly rough where will you find replacements for those leaving your new system.… Read more »
I don’t know of any data, but I get the impression that teachers can’t maintain control of their classes or that student ability levels are so disparate that it’s impossible to instruct every student at his/her ability level. Additionally, schools have been tasked with babysitting and feeding and various mandates such as CRT so that the basics are not being mastered by pupils. The burdens of solving these problems should not be on the school system (any more than the burden of keeping homeless people warm should be on public libraries). School systems should teach core knowledge that can be… Read more »
Public schools are assigned to educate every person of the right age requirement who lives within the school district’s boundaries. The problem is that those students bring a myriad of problems because there are so many ways they are individually different: family values, dedication to being “educated” as adults see use the term, language skills, reading comprehension, behavioral tendencies over protracted periods, as well as the ability to think abstractly as well as concretely. So, yes, in comminities where the population is diverse in many of these ways imparting “education” in its best classical sense is extremely difficult to accomplish… Read more »
So do you think tracking kids by ability and socialization would be illegal or unconstitutional. Is Chicago compelled by this “assignment” to do it the current way, which isn’t working? I understand there may be budget issues with a two or three track system, and it is likely that those below grade level face issues beyond their control. I also am familiar with the idea of teaching to the lowest common denominator so as not to benefit those students who are advantaged by their own circumstances. I agree it’s not easy to create a workable system any more than it’s… Read more »
School districts where the student enrollment size permits generally do have at least a two-tiered tracking system, regular and honors classes. Some sneak in a third to assist the slower students where disabilities of one kind or another apply to seek supplemental funding. As for the first two tiers mentioned those in the honors classes have some acknowledged higher levels of ability and dedication which gives them a better chance for learning in the classical sense to be achieved. Still, some courses are more mentally challenging than others, aren’t they? Much like the rest of life itself you get out… Read more »
I doubt that any Charter school got extra funding, even in Chicago.
Morons total morons
Notice the framing here? An $87 million error “represents less than half a percentage point of the total funding that has been allocated statewide.” But when it came to funding the $100 million Invest In Kids Scholarship Tax Credit Program, the teachers unions screamed, “We can’t afford it!”
I doubt CPD is willing to easily come up with $87M at this point – a lot of money to broke school system. Interesting to see if the state will play hardball.