-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The elementary school is about half a mile away from where the local alderman established a temporary shelter for migrants at the Piotrowski Park earlier in the month. Ald. Mike Rodriguez didn’t know exactly how many students would enroll, but estimated that from the 200 migrants there, 40-50 kids would join the elementary school and up to a dozen high school-age students might soon join Little Village Lawndale High School.
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
Failing Chicago schools will now fail harder
Thousands of children being enrolled in Public Schools paid for by Tax Payers of Illinois and property owners. The way schools are paid for in the 870 school districts in Illinois (ridiculous number of separate districts) does not work when this many “students” are enrolled. Generational tax payers, american families and their children over generations live, buy houses, pay taxes and grow the districts and their infrastructure over time. These illegal immigrants have not paid a nickel in taxes and show up with their kids expecting to be baby-sat, fed, transported and educated for free. The math does not work.… Read more »
School districts also project enrolment increases and decreases which evolve slowly over time. Staffing and infrastructure is adjusted accordingly. You think CTU can adjust quickly.
The average Illinois resident doesn’t connect the dots between the number of public employees and wages and higher RE taxes. CTU will exploit this “opportunity” to hire more and expand. Anyone who dares to speak out will be publicly shamed and labeled.
The average Illinois resident doesn’t understand their own checkbook let alone public finance. Illinois has major fiscal problems because they haven’t been paying their bills not because they have too many public employees. The last stats I saw Illinois had some of the fewest full time equivalent for local and state government employees per 10k residents.
I’m willing to read any source that shows otherwise and I promise not to label or shame you.
You are correct, the last I saw we were ranked 12th out of 50 for FTE public employees. Yet, you bring up the elephant in the room, unspoken but implied through this article- Illinois doesnt pay bills because they keep giving away revenue that has already been allocated. Then, the politicians come back at residents expecting more fees and taxes. Illinois has a spending problem. We need to take the credit card away.
“Illinois doesnt pay bills because they keep giving away revenue that has already been allocated.” While I don’t agree they are “giving away revenue”, they are spending that money on other things that we can’t afford it. Yes we have a spending problem but the voters of this state keep electing politicians that promise to spend even more. Until the voters pull in the reigns I don’t expect our elected officials to change a thing. Also our ranking of 12th out of 50 for FTE means only 11 other states have fewer FTE per 10k residents. We don’t have too… Read more »
I do believe we’re near the top in units of government. So there can be some administrative savings if we can unload office space, buildings, consolidate school districts etc.
Doesn’t matter if they don’t understand their own checkbook, so long as they vote the right way. Bigger mob theory makes it all OK.
I thought I have often read Illinois has more layers of Government per population of any other State and lets not get the multiple school districts into this. Layers of Government means more employees to me though I will admit I haven’t counted the numbers.
PPF – Yep good point, The ratio of public employees to residents may be true – not sure, but in the case of public schools, their operational funding and on-going pensions, there really are way too many individual school districts in IL. There are 852 school districts in Illinois. Over 50% of them have one or two buildings, but employ full administrative staffs to serve 400 students. These tiny districts that employ a superintendent, principals, vice Principals, IT, etc., should be consolidated and reduce the salary and pension costs for all. Regardless, injecting (from thin air) this many new children… Read more »
It’s not that I’m against consolidation its just that I don’t think the lift to get it done would be very difficult and the financial impact would not be that great. Illinois has a fiscal problem because of its debt. About 75-80% of an actuarial pension contribution is for paying back the debt from prior years while the true cost of the pension funding (if it was already fully funded) is only 20-25% of what we are paying. The sooner we pay down this debt the more savings we will have in the future. Nothing comes close. I’m not saying… Read more »
Another side effect will be getting your kids the he’ll out of Illinois….
How do migrant kids “join” or “enroll” in Chicago schools when they most probably don’t speak English. The article doesn’t bother to explain the practical difficulties of suddenly introducing non-English speakers to classes and the disruptions posed to teachers and existing students. What a poor article to ignore these obvious questions.