Chicago Public Schools

Brady proposes voucher plan for displaced CPS students

08/20/2013
The parents of the 30,000 displaced Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, students’ who will be attending new schools this fall are worried about their children’s futures. These fears are reasonable – what parent wouldn’t we be concerned about having their child walk to school along a Safe Passage route that was recently the scene of...

Moody’s credit downgrades: Illinois, Chicago area, take beating

08/19/2013
The recent string of credit downgrades by Moody’s Investors Service should leave little doubt what the rating agency thinks of Illinois’ worsening fiscal crisis. For the past few years the state’s five state-run pension funds have garnered most of the negative attention in Illinois. Moody’s has already designated Illinois’ debt as the riskiest of any...

TAGS: Chicago, downgrade

Judge won’t halt CPS school closings

08/16/2013
A federal judge said Friday he won’t order a halt to the 50 school closings Chicago Public Schools officials announced in March. The Associated Press reported: “In a 54-page ruling posted Thursday, US. District Judge John Lee says parents who requested an injunction stopping the closures hadn’t shown kids forced to attend new schools would be...

Devil’s Night

By Paul Kersey
08/13/2013
I grew up in Detroit, and as far back as I can remember my hometown was in trouble. But if there was a time when people just gave up on the place, it was probably October 30, 1984 — just a couple weeks after the Tigers won the World Series — when fires on “Devil’s...

TAGS: Detroit

Detroit’s tipping point is a warning for Chicago

07/26/2013
by Paul Kersey How did Detroit get to be the urban disaster area it is today? One tipping point come in 1978, when a union got a “win” that cost the city, and eventually its own members, dearly. This “win” came in the form of a raise concession granted to a powerful police union, which...

CPS four notches above junk bond status

By Ted Dabrowski
07/26/2013
In what’s become a torrent of bad news regarding Illinois’ fiscal health, Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Chicago Public Schools’ $6.3 billion general obligation debt one notch. The credit rating agency’s outlook remains negative, and CPS debt is now just four levels above junk bond status. The CPS ranking drop to A3 from A2 follows recent downgrades...

Another misstep in CPS’ school closing boondoggle

07/24/2013
Buried beneath the news of Chicago Public Schools’ dismal Illinois Standard Achievement Test scoreslast week was another bombshell: students from receiving schools – those schools that students from closed schools will attend next year – saw less than half of the gains on the ISAT as the rest of the district. In other words, thousands of displaced...

CTU recommendations for new revenue mirror Detroit’s failed policies

07/24/2013
When Chicago Public Schools laid off more than 2,000 employees – including 1,036 teachers – last week, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis skewered Mayor Rahm Emanuel for not supporting tax-increasing policies that she claims would bring additional revenue to the city. She said: “It is equally shameful that as CPS slashes school budgets, they have not offered one...

Chicago Public Schools lays off more than 2,000, including 1,000 teachers

07/19/2013
Chicago Public Schools plans to layoff more than 2,000 Chicago Teachers Union members on Friday. CTU released a statement saying CPS plans to lay off nearly 2,100 total employees, including “veteran teachers, teacher assistants, clerks, technology coordinators, instructional aides, lunchroom workers and security guards.” “Once again, CPS has lied to parents, employees and the public...
Load More

FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

View Report

Report Archive

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