Number of half-empty Chicago public schools doubles, yet lawmakers want to extend school closing moratorium – Wirepoints
April 19, 2024
1 Comment
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
$200,224,896,429 is the total 2018 Unfunded Actuarial Liability for most of the public sector pension plans in Illinois, per the Illinois Department of Insurance, Public Pension Division, Pension Data Portal, 2019 Biennial Report Summary Spreadsheets.
https://insurance.illinois.gov/Applications/Pension/PensionDataPortal.aspx
That excludes mass transit (CTA, RTA, METRA, PACE, etc.), housing (CHA, etc.), and the South Cook County Mosquito Abatement District Pension Plan in Harvey.