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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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CPS is essentially a money laundering front for the crooked corrupt racketeers that run CTU
Why pay the teachers at all. They are not living up to their contract to teach.
“Not a single student can do math at grade level in 53 Illinois schools. For reading, it’s 30 schools” – in a segment detailing how devotion to “equity” is destroying student outcomes in education.
They are teaching. Students aren’t learning. Doctors treat patients for obesity. Doctor gets reimbursed. Patient either commits to lifestyle changes and loses weight and gets healthier or they fail. Either way doctor is paid. Police officers patrol streets in hopes of deterring crime. Criminals still commit crime. Police officer is still paid. Firefighters respond to house fire and puts out flames. House is ultimately still destroyed. Firefighter still gets paid. So many of you seem to struggle to understand the many variables that impact the outcome of student success and just want to use a simple minded approach and just… Read more »
Horse schitt, NOT ONE STUDENT can perform at grade level.
Well as it relates to a solid education in the STEM areas teachers are generally lacking. The district I live in had a special ed teacher that was burned out transferred to teaching AP Mathematics. That would be a laugh and a half if it wasn’t so sad considering her students were made and are suffering from it all.
CTU = Highly effective at collective bargaining.
Cheerleading again for how effectively CTU extracts taxpayer money? Didn’t we just have this discussion a couple of days ago? Payments to fund pensions to actuary requirements, or funds diverted to CTU’s effective collective bargaining?
Take your pick, but you don’t get to blame thieving taxpayers for the shortfall in the pension funds.
Stating something factual doesn’t make it cheerleading. Calling an organization “terrorists” because they are able to get a better contract is ridiculous. Nothing stops CPS from holding strong. Lightfoot had a chance to make CTU members feel some pain when their healthcare was about to expire. Instead of taking advantage of that leverage she let them off the hook. Stop blaming the CTU for doing their job exactly how they should to get the most out of every contract. CTU doesn’t represent retirees but rather current employees. Also, you keep thinking it’s a choice between funding schools and funding pensions.… Read more »
Then stop blaming deadbeat taxpayers for the shortfall in the pension funds.
The taxpayer piggybank still has plenty of money to pay both current and retired teachers, right? A never ending stream of funds.
The taxpayers are to blame for the leaders they have voted in office. The latest budget shows that those leaders would rather initiate new spending instead of being responsible and funding pensions. Are they upset by this new spending and lack of fiscal responsibility? Hardly. They want more of it.
It’s called the inmates running the asylum sort of like when Stateville’s most famous inmate got his hands on a video camera and estrogen pills…that’s a great description of Illinois’s current predicament.
“The voters” are not the same set of people as “the taxpayers”. The voters contain a substantial subset of people who receive more money than they pay, if they pay at all. As the old saying goes, when your proposal is to rob Peter to pay Paul, you can be assured of Paul’s vote.
Illinois has a flat income tax as well as sales taxes. They are all taxpayers. You can try and move the goal post as to the definition of a taxpayer but it doesn’t make it so. Under your definition, most social security recipients are not taxpayers as they receive way more than they pay.
Quite obviously, money used for increased spending cannot be used for pension funding. But that’s where “we need to increase taxes” comes in. We are not supposed to notice that we already pay among the highest taxes in the nation. We are also not supposed to notice that the taxes we already paid are going to CTU, thanks to their “excellence in collective bargaining” (couldn’t be anything else…)
It’s unfortunate that the excellence stops at collective bargaining, and doesn’t extend to other items in their purview.
My enemies including the CTU calls me awful, terrible names, associating my views with genocidal monsters. PFF takes it personally when ProzacPlease pushes back and calls out the CTU for the terrorist organization that it is.
Ah, but I have never called CTU a terrorist organization. That is a figment of someone’s defensive imagination.
I referenced terrorist organization because people have used that term several times on this site. “Mafia” was the first post in this thread. I never stated prozac called them terrorists. I also don’t take it personal. Instead I just see it as people that are upset that CTU is so effective at negotiating contracts and their only outlet is to name call. Have I ever called you or anyone else “genocidal monsters”? Nope. The reality is that CTU is highly effective at negotiating contracts. Unfortunately for you and many others, you hate teachers having strong contracts so you hate CTU.… Read more »
The teachers in my area are also ‘highly effective’ at negotiating contracts (no seriously, they are far higher paid than CTU) but they come from a strong position with high test scores, at least up until 6 years ago when district went woke. But the drop off, while steep, can’t even be compared to the abysmal performance of CTU teachesr.
That has more to do with the kids that feed into the schools rather than the teachers themselves. Although, I agree that suburban teachers are typically paid more. The teachers job is more conducive to teaching when kids show up and try vs. teaching in a prison like atmosphere. More pay and better work environment.
CTU members if anything deserve even more money. I certainly wouldn’t work as a teacher. in that district for 80-90k per year.
I hate CTU for many reasons, but being effective at anything is not one of them.
The result is the young educated are leaving the state in droves. Illinois is now the most disliked state in the union. Soon only the poor and the government Lackie will be left.
The state does not have the change of a Nickel, broke no money honey. Ken Griffen had the right idea and many more will follow.
CTU = Mafia.