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“People are very proud of our selective enrollment schools in the city,” Ald. Samantha Nugent said in the first briefing. “It is something that people talk about all over the country, I mean, Michelle Obama writes about it in her book, how life changing it was for her.” Ald. Felix Cardona said at a later briefing, “Do you understand parents don’t have the confidence in the Chicago Public Schools in their neighborhoods? And they leave."
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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