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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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This isn’t a crisis. This is an attempt to defy basic economics and common sense. The WTTW author reports a $40k per student cost at Manley Career Academy High School as if this is perfectly fine, given that students are getting shortchanged from an acceptable High School experience. Why wait until 2025 to close these underpopulated schools? Why? This is insanity. Notice the brainwashing that cause parents of students to advocate for a lousier and more costly school experience as if that is sacrosanct. Also, note the race angle of the story, inserted more times than a school superintendent’s taxpayer… Read more »
Why is declining enrollment a crisis, or are they just worried their gig is up.
You know what a crisis is – Manley Career Academy High School on Chicago’s West Side illustrates the paradox. It now serves 65 students, and the cost per student has shot up to $40,000, even though schools like Manley offer few elective courses, sports and extracurricular activities. That’s a crisis.
Nearly 1.3 million students have left public schools since the pandemic began – Bloomberg
Gee, could the CTU experience wave of pink slips necessitated by declining enrollment?
Imagine Jesse Sharkey working at Walmart.
Jesse married the daughter of the Royal Caribbean cruise line owner. His father-in-law is a Republican. How awkward are Thanksgiving Dinners?
Well if I was Jesse’s father in law, I don’t think my dinner would sit right and my daughter needed critical thinking skills years ago.
Imagine Jesses’s future father in law blanching when his daughter introduced the skulk!