-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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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Schurz high school is not a good high school. Math and reading proficiency is 11% and 13% respectively. 82% hispanic, 8% black, 7% white. 96% eligble for free lunch. Which is kind of crazy because from what I remember about Chicago is that surrounding neighborhood is pretty fancy with lots of million dollar houses.
https://www.publicschoolreview.com/schurz-high-school-profile
It is a nice neighborhood directly around the school, but Schurz’s attendance boundaries stretch from Bucktown to Dunning, and Jeff Park to Belmont Cragin (https://schoolinfo.cps.edu/schoollocator/index.html). My school is a feeder for Schurz, so I hear what the school is like from former students. Even though the academic numbers are telling (and not surprising), Schurz used to also be a place of constant mayhem both inside and outside the building. It is significantly better today than it was 10 years ago, and the majority of my students are happy with the school, at least by teenage standards. I guess there was… Read more »