Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools’ overcrowding dilemma

01/03/2014

Chicago Public Schools’ plan to alleviate overcrowding in schools on the city’s west and north sides is a costly, jumbled mess. Its initial decision to provide $20 million to Lincoln Elementary to alleviate overcrowding at the school, even though it’s the 17th most overcrowded school in the city, was met with fierce resistance. Teachers and...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools’ school closings: too many mistakes

01/02/2014

Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, displayed plenty of bad judgment last year: in the way it managed its budget, the school closings fiasco and the adoption of a new promotion policy that pushes students to the next grade even when they’re not ready. More recently, CPS continued its poor decision-making by providing $20 million to...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools

Don’t buy mom Illinois bonds for Christmas

12/19/2013

Would you invest your mother’s money in municipal bonds? In a recent interview on Fox Business News, host Gerri Willis asked me that very question. It didn’t take me long to say I’d certainly do my homework first. Based on the growing number of city bankruptcies from Alabama to Rhode Island to California, it’s clear to me...

Pension proposal a move in the wrong direction

By Paul Kersey

12/03/2013

House Speaker Mike Madigan’s latest pension proposal is a giant step backward. The overall effect of this plan would be to leave Illinois pensions worse off than they are today – and that’s saying something, considering the state has $100 billion in official pension debt. If this plan passes, both taxpayers and government employees will...

TAGS: pensions

Will County strike lingers on

By Paul Kersey

11/28/2013

There really is no good time to call a strike, but late in November might just be the worst. That sums up the situation faced by around 1,000 Will County government employees. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1028 called a strike against the county back on Nov. 18. If AFSCME...

TAGS: AFSCME: American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees

Illinois legislators introduce bills to kill the state charter school commission

11/14/2013

The state charter school commission is under attack. State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, has contempt for the state charter school commission, even though she voted for its creation more than two years ago. It was on full display the last time Jeanne Nowaczewski – the commission’s executive director – appeared in front of the...

TAGS: Charter Authorizer Task Force, charter schools, ISBE: Illinois State Board of Education, Jeanne Nowaczewski, Kimberly Lightford, Linda Chapa LaVia, school choice, vouchers

Fitch Ratings: Chicago approaching “inflection point”

11/12/2013

Triple-notch credit downgrades for government entities are supposed to be rare. They normally happen only in response to major financial events, such as a sudden fiscal emergency. But Chicago just received its second triple-notch downgrade in just six months. And that spells trouble for Chicago taxpayers. Citing skyrocketing pension costs and a lack of meaningful...

TAGS: Chicago, Chicago Park District, Detroit, downgrade, pensions

It’s time to stop misleading parents about the quality of Illinois schools

11/06/2013

State government officials, district administrators and union bosses have been actively misleading parents about the quality of Illinois’ elementary schools for years. New Illinois Standard Achievement Test, or ISAT, scores released last week by the Illinois State Board of Education, or ISBE, prove as much. In fact, most schools across the state experienced significant drops...

TAGS: Common Core, CPS: Chicago Public Schools, Illinois Standard Achievement Test, ISAT: Illinois Standards Achievement Test, ISBE: Illinois State Board of Education

Chicago school closings: a natural school choice experiment

10/25/2013

It was huge news in the summer of 2013. Chicago Public Schools, or CPS – one of the largest school districts in the country – had just voted to close almost 50 schools in an effort to right-size the district and eliminate wasteful spending. This meant thousands of CPS students would be attending new schools...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools, CTU: Chicago Teachers Union, Rahm Emanuel

Trapped in Chicago’s worst schools: Education outcomes in Chicago’s lowest-performing public schools

10/24/2013

THE PROBLEM More than 21,000 students in Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, are being left behind. They are attending schools that fail to prepare them for life. A majority of students attending the lowest 10 percent of elementary schools and high schools in Chicago don’t have basic competence in reading, science and math. They’re significantly...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools, CTU: Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Standard Achievement Test, ISAT: Illinois Standards Achievement Test

Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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