by Ashley Muchow Great cartoon from Chris Britt of the SJ-R today, recounting the recent deal struck between the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees labor union and Governor Quinn. Check out our blogs, response, and more blogs on the matter. As Quinn rolls over to the demands of AFSCME, Illinois has reason to question the Governor’s plan...
by Kate Piercy A recent poll from Rasmussen Reports shows “seventy-five percent (75%) of voters prefer free markets over a government managed economy.” Although this was a national poll, Illinois candidates would do well to listen to this consistent theme coming from the voices of voters across the country as well asthose in Illinois. Want some ideas?...
by Collin Hitt News recently broke that charter schools make up 6 of the top 10 scoring open enrollment high schools in Chicago. Similar news from LA, viaEduwonk: “Looks like seven of the top ten high schools in the city are charters as are the two top middle schools.” This concentration at the top is vastly disproportional...
by Wesley Fox Some Republicans in Congress have expressed concern Democrats in Congress will use the lame duck session after the November election to push through controversial legislation such as Cap and Trade and Card Check. The concern is that the Democrats who lose in the election will go ahead and vote for these controversial measures since their job will...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson If you’ve been experiencing changes to the terms of your bank accounts or credit cards, then you can thank (or blame) new financial regulations. While the new regulations have been touted as “consumer protection,” the unintended consequences of the legislation have made some consumers worse off. Theodore Frank of the Manhattan Institute...
by Collin Hitt Ohio created a school voucher program nearly a decade ago. It gives choice to students attending failing schools, not unlike a policy proposed for Chicago by state Sen. James Meeks. Research has shown that, while still in its infancy, the program was already causing improvement in public schools faced with newfound competition for students. In time,...
by Collin Hitt This week’s NYT Magazine has nearly a dozen stories on technology and education. Much of it focuses on online learning technology. But one piece told the story of a classroom teacher who has equipped every one of his students with a computerized ink pen, manufactured by LiveScribe. The pen electronically records every...
by Kristina Rasmussen Republicans in Congress unveiled their “Pledge to America,” which seeks to limit taxes and spending, among other things. You can read the full text below. How about a Pledge to Illinois? Some great policy ideas to consider: A budget balanced without a tax hike. A Constitutional cap to limit spending growth. An overhaul of job-killing regulations. A 3/5 super-majority requirement for...
by Kristina Rasmussen Here’s Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno’s take on the AFSCME deal: “This is wrong on so many counts that it is hard to know where to begin. At a minimum, there is the appearance that the Governor traded a favorable contract for the union endorsement. It was clearly wrong to take the state’s lead...
Introduction Today, Illinois stands at a crossroads. Our state faces mounting debt and troublesome unemployment. Significant budget challenges have been caused and are now intensified by destructive overspending habits and a job-killing regulatory approach. In the midst of this crisis, Illinois citizens and their leaders must turn the state’s affairs around and put Illinois back...
by Kate Piercy Interesting poll results from Rasmussen Reports: A plurality of Americans (43%) believe that government programs increase poverty in America. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22% of the nation’s adults believe that those programs decrease poverty. Twenty-three percent (23%) say they have no impact. There is a fundamental difference...
by Wesley Fox In the last few years, the federal government and many state governments have used a similar approach to dealing with the economic downturn: higher taxes and more government spending. Governor Quinn’s proposed tax hikes and his $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now capital spending program are a perfect example. Meanwhile, Chicago Park District...
by Ashley Muchow If you missed the Auditor General’s release last week, you’ll be surprised to see the findings are far from negligible. Based on all the grading standards I accepted as a student, it’s fair to say most teachers would have failed the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget on their most recent state audit. The...
by John Tillman The worst possible news for President Obama is that the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the downturn ended in June of 2009. Why a disaster for the president? Simple: As of June 2009, only $201.3 billion, or 25.6 percent of the total stimulus bill, had been awarded (not necessarily spent, as this...