-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
We need to consolidate the school districts into unit districts while keeping each school independent for their athletic programs thus keeping their mascots. Every unit district would comprise of approx 15,000-30,000 students under the control of 1 superintendent and 1 legal-purchasing and 1 administrative staff. One unit per county except for densely counties like Cook would also work. This would eliminate duplicative administrations which are mostly taxpayer funded. There would be approx 150 or less districts statewide. Remember Florida has 4 Mil more people than Illinois and have only 76 districts comprising of approx 34,000 students each or 600K more… Read more »
I grew up in rural Iowa. As the farm towns got smaller and smaller, we consolidated schools. Between 5th and 6th grade, my school was combine with one 8 miles away. Grades 5-8 were bused to the smaller town’s school and the rest were at the bigger town. New mascot was created and it worked just fine. I’ve heard that more consolidation happened later. Some school districts ended up building the multi-town school in the corn field right in the middle so no one was bussed too far. You do what you have to do. Iowa faced reality. Illinois still… Read more »