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An analysis of school budgets for the past three years found that federal COVID relief made up 7 percent of all the money that went to schools. More than half of Chicago’s federal COVID money went to staff salaries and benefits.
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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School Districts and Education in general are the worst run, bottomless pits of funding ever. They are always broke. Always complaining. No matter how much money they get, it is NEVER enough. If we give them all the money from everyone in Illinois…not just taxes, ALL the money made and the rest of us go live in a refrigerator box under an over-pass…it still would not be enough…and students would still not be able to read or do math at grade level.
Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said the district shouldn’t have plugged the federal money into operating costs, such as salaries, because that created a cliff – a sudden loss of money that could mean the loss of programs and staff that directly impacts students.
” It creates a lot of unintended and hard-to-anticipate issues. ”
Hard to anticipate that the expenses would continue after the Covid money was gone? Hard to anticipate that would create a serious financial problem?
No wonder CPS is such a mess.
I looked up my neighborhood CPS school, they have a $39mil budget for 900 kids!!!and I assume the $39mil doesn’t inclde the crazy benifits, central office cost, etc…..$$$$insanity$$$$