Chicago Public Schools

Top 10 facts on labor policy in Illinois

10/20/2014
Top 10 facts on labor policy in Illinois Unions are often presented as the plucky defenders of the working man or woman, whose only interest is seeing that workers get a fair shake on the job. But in reality, unions are well financed and powerful. And in government, at least, union influence goes beyond the...

Illinois corruption watch, August 2014

By Brian Costin
09/05/2014
At least 84 corruption-related stories have been reported from across the state of Illinois in August alone. Atop August headlines is the recent revelation that a federal grand jury subpoenaed the emails of Gov. Pat Quinn’s ex-chief of staff in relation to Quinn’s anti-violence grant program. The case, which has been referred to by some...

TAGS: Chicago, corruption, cronyism, transparency, waste

Union waste and pay raises cost thousands of government workers their jobs

By Paul Kersey
08/22/2014
Several of Illinois’ most influential government unions are wasting money on overhead and administrative costs. Workers aren’t getting their money’s worth for the dues they are forced to pay. But state-employee pay has more than doubled over the last decade or so, with lax attendance rules that actually reward workers for showing up late to work....

Illinois corruption watch, July 2014

By Brian Costin
08/09/2014
The bad news keeps piling up for Illinoisans. Illinois Policy’s “corruption watch” blog series hit a new high in the month of July with nearly 100 corruption-related stories. Chicago and Springfield are the two cities most synonymous with the state’s corruption woes. Unsurprisingly, both cities dominated headlines with the top two corruption stories of the...

Chicago Public Schools’ ‘creative accounting’ symptom of a larger problem

07/24/2014
In a creative-accounting maneuver that would make Wall Street proud, Chicago Public Schools’ leadership fashioned a 14-month year for fiscal year 2015. CPS is adding 60 days to its 2015 calendar, allowing it to “generate” one-time revenues of nearly $650 million – just enough to cover its skyrocketing pension costs and help balance its budget....

Pension benefits of Chicago workers

By Benjamin VanMetre
07/21/2014
The problem Opponents of pension reform at the state and local level often argue that the average government-worker pension is modest. In a May 2011 commentary, government union chiefs Ken Swanson and Henry Bayer wrote that “at the end of a working life devoted to public service, an Illinois teacher, firefighter or librarian retires with...

TAGS: Chicago, labor

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Chicago Forward 2026: A pro-growth plan to end city budget deficits

Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016