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According to state data, more than 1,800 of the roughly 2,100 public schools that submitted test results identified some amount of lead in their drinking water. The law did not require districts to take action to reduce elevated lead levels, and state funding was not available to aid schools that wanted to do so. As a result, district responses to finding lead varied greatly,
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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Students’ learning and physical safety come behind increasing teachers’ pay, benefits and job security. Same for union contributions to politicians’ campaigns. Districts should gear up for the lawsuits from those who can allege or demonstrate harm. Some of the liability may not even be dischargable in bankruptcy, were the State to permit such attemmpts to evade liability. The bonanza for plaintiff lawyers should last for at least a decade. (They’re still fighting about Flint, MI).