Illinois’ comeback story starts here.

Contracting for Success: An Introduction to School Service Privatization

Contracting for Success: An Introduction to School Service Privatization

The Problem During these trying fiscal times, many school districts are attempting to find ways to become more efficient. Private firms are able to assist in this goal, while often improving the quality of certain services. For example, support service providers can offer more efficient busing or cafeteria services, and instructional service providers can offer...

By Collin Hitt

Getting Less For More: A Report Card on Illinois State Higher Education

Getting Less For More: A Report Card on Illinois State Higher Education

The Problem Tuition at Illinois’s state universities is becoming less affordable for Illinois families. From 2002 to 2007, in-state tuition and fees jumped by an average of 56 percent, with no campus increasing rates by less than 42 percent and two campuses increasing rates by more than 70 percent [in inflation-adjusted dollars]. In just five...

By Collin Hitt

Charter Schools and Changing Neighborhoods: Hispanics and English Learners in Chicago

Charter Schools and Changing Neighborhoods: Hispanics and English Learners in Chicago

The Problem Illinois’s Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Hispanic students will play a major role in determining the state’s economic future. Unfortunately, these two critical groups of students have remained among the lowest-performing in our schools. This is especially the case in Chicago Public Schools, where the problem is exacerbated by the fact that thousands...

By Collin Hitt

Charting the Course: Illinois Charter Schools Offer a Proven Solution to the State’s Dropout Problem

Charting the Course: Illinois Charter Schools Offer a Proven Solution to the State’s Dropout Problem

The Problem What would you do if your children could be on a championship-level team…but they weren’t allowed to try out? Every day, kids from many of Illinois’s roughest communities prove they can compete in the classroom. All they need is the opportunity—an opportunity often provided by charter schools. Tragically, thousands of children are not...

By Collin Hitt

How Does the Illinois Constitution Stand Up?

How Does the Illinois Constitution Stand Up?

Overview In an era of burgeoning federal government power, state constitutions are full of untapped potential; many provide stronger protection of individual freedoms than the federal constitution.  But realizing that potential requires recognizing its existence and assessing which state constitutions offer the best opportunities for securing the principles of limited government. “50 Bright Stars: An...

By Chris Andriesen

Beyond “Business As Usual”: A Case Study of Glenview

Beyond “Business As Usual”: A Case Study of Glenview

The Problem Too often, local governments go about “business as usual” for years, even when they could get a better deal for the same or better level of service. Recently, many communities have started questioning their “business as usual” routine as it becomes increasingly clear that repeatedly raising taxes to generate additional revenue is not...

By Kate Campaigne Piercy

This Bid’s for You! How online reverse auction saves taxpayers millions

This Bid’s for You! How online reverse auction saves taxpayers millions

Problem Illinois needs more cost-efficient, quality-driven spending activity at the local and state levels of government. Illinois’s state budget has exploded from $24.7 billion in 2004 to $32.2 billion in 2009, increasing nearly 30 percent over just five years. The state needs better spending practices, more transparency in the procurement process, and a tool to...

By Kate Campaigne Piercy

Out Of Control: The Explosion of Illinois State Government Spending

Out Of Control: The Explosion of Illinois State Government Spending

The Problem State spending in Illinois has skyrocketed over the past decade, increasing 39 percent from 1998 to 2008 (after inflation). “Appropriated Funds Expenditures” include general, highway, special state, bond financed, debt service, federal trust, revolving funds, and state trust funds. Illinois’s population growth has been minimal, increasing just under 7 percent between 1998 and...

By Chris Andriesen

Not What the Doctor Ordered

Not What the Doctor Ordered

Imagine going to the doctor for a chronic headache and frequent blackouts. The doctor tells you to see a specialist – who you can’t see for another 17 weeks. After seeing the specialist, you must wait 4 weeks for an MRI. Finally, doctors discover a cyst in your brain, but the treatment you need isn’t...

By Chris Andriesen

Putting the “Laboratory of the States” to Work in Illinois

Putting the “Laboratory of the States” to Work in Illinois

“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away.” So said Linus Pauling, the two-time Nobel Prize winner for chemistry. A lot of ideas have been suggested to solve Illinois’s budget shortfall, and it’s time to separate the good from the bad. According to the National...

By Chris Andriesen

Cook County Key Facts

Cook County Key Facts

The Problem Cook County is the largest county in Illinois, with a population of 5,294,664 (41% of Illinois’s 12,901,563 residents). However, between April 2000 and July 2008, its population declined at a rate of -1.5%, while the rest of Illinois grew by 3.9%. Why is everyone leaving? Highest Taxes. Within Chicago and Cook County, the...

By Chris Andriesen

Taking Illinoisans for a Ride – High-Speed Rail

Taking Illinoisans for a Ride – High-Speed Rail

The Problem Would you pay $1,000 so that someone–probably not you–could ride high-speed trains less than 60 miles a year? Probably not. Yet, that’s what the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) high-speed rail plan is going to cost: at least $90 billion, or $1,000 for every federal income taxpayer in the country. Who will ride these...

By Chris Andriesen

Opening the Door to Better Schools

Opening the Door to Better Schools

The Problem Hundreds of communities and neighborhoods throughout Illinois are badly in need of better schools. In those communities it should be a realistic option for innovative educators to create new school choices for students and their families. The past fifteen years have witnessed the creation and spread of a new kind of public school:...

By Collin Hitt

Ten Ways to Balance the Budget Without Tax Hikes

Ten Ways to Balance the Budget Without Tax Hikes

Governor Pat Quinn claims that $3.2 billion in new personal and corporate income tax receipts are necessary to put Illinois’s budget back in the black. In a down economy, however, the last thing that families and businesses need to worry about is the dangling noose of higher taxes. The Illinois Policy Institute recently released an...

By Chris Andriesen

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