Illinois’ comeback story starts here.

Meet the Kane County Transparency Team

Meet the Kane County Transparency Team

  Recently, the Institute released the results of transparency audits of 26 northern Illinois counties as part of the Local Transparency Project. Kane County earned the highest grade and became the first county in Illinois to score a 100%, on the Institute’s 10-Point Transparency Checklist. Here is a picture of Kane County’s Transparency Team who was responsible for...

By Brian Costin

Statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the Chicago Teacher’s Union choice to continue to strike

Statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the Chicago Teacher’s Union choice to continue to strike

Statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the Chicago Teacher’s Union Choice to Continue to Strike. I will not stand by while the children of Chicago are played as pawns in an internal dispute within a union. This was a strike of choice and is now a delay of choice that is wrong for our children....

By Paul Kersey

Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates votes to continue strike

Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates votes to continue strike

From the Chicago Teachers Union blog: “Some 800 delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union duly elected from each school and workplace convened Sunday afternoon to discuss the framework established during negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education. Officers presented a 23-page document (see below) outlining the most important points of...

By Paul Kersey

CNN: To unions, Chicago is the next Wisconsin

CNN: To unions, Chicago is the next Wisconsin

This post originally appeared at CNN.com Shortly after President Obama took his historic oath of office, a small group of people back in his home state of Illinois gathered to negotiate a key issue of school reform. Before substantive discussions even began, a representative from the Chicago Teachers Union interjected: “For us,” she said, “this is...

By Collin Hitt

Been a long time since Rahm got rolled

Been a long time since Rahm got rolled

t is becoming more and more apparent that the big items of contention between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union were the rehiring of laid-off teachers and teacher evaluations. While claiming that other issues remained unresolved, union officials had said numerous times that they would not agree to a contract without getting...

By Paul Kersey

Enough on teacher salaries. How much do teachers union bosses make?

Enough on teacher salaries. How much do teachers union bosses make?

Striking Chicago teachers have at times echoed the themes of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hostility toward big corporations that benefit from tax breaks and other giveaways (real and imagined) has been a recurring theme.  Yesterday CTU President Karen Lewis told a rally “I’m not afraid to say that we care about our children and we...

By Paul Kersey

Chicago Teachers Union demands huge raise on top of million-dollar pensions

Chicago Teachers Union demands huge raise on top of million-dollar pensions

Chicago teachers are striking. You may recall that they were demanding a 30 percent raise earlier this year, which would have spiked the average teacher’s salary to nearly six figures. But nobody seems to be talking about what this will do to a pension system already in trouble. Chicago teachers’ pension fund is woefully underfunded. According to new...

By Jonathan Ingram

Cheat Sheet: Chicago Public Schools

Cheat Sheet: Chicago Public Schools

    Cut through the rhetoric. Here are the facts. CPS Revenues and Expenditures Total revenues: $5,534,664,416 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total local revenues: $2,508,887,449 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total state revenues: $1,906,809,466 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total federal revenues: $1,118,976,501 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total expenditures 2011: $5,680,099,797 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Chicago public schools will drain their cash reserves this year and will face a $1 billion shortfall during the...

By Benjamin VanMetre