Audio: Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon says Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades – Chicago’s Morning Answer
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
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.
Illinois lost another 54,000 tax filers and dependents, net, according to the IRS. Since 2000, fleeing taxpayers have taken $94 billion of annual adjusted gross income with them.
The article doesn’t tell us how many schools there are, how many custodians there are now and how many will remain after the cuts. Also no comparables from other school systems. Still, at least give Block Club and Chalkbeat credit for covering this, when apparently no other media did.
Many schools were already short on custodians, with almost no subs in case of absences. Way to pick the low-hanging fruit, CPS. How ‘bout you get rid of the numerous “Instructional Support Leaders” (most of whom have about 5 seconds of classroom experience), who are wandering into classrooms giving advice on how to maximize “agency, voice, and choice” of your students so they can “equitably access a high-quality curriculum”?
Janitors and crossing guards isn’t going to cut the mustard.
FIRE the 9,000 teachers hired during covid and consolidate those near empty schools!
That’s where the real $$$ are at.
Ironic they cut people that get rid of trash.
Nice direction, but CPS is avoiding the real dollars and the real issue.