Chicago Public Schools

Detroit: A story that must be told

By Ted Dabrowski
08/23/2013
Two weeks ago I took in the demise of Detroit with my own eyes. I was fortunate to be with my colleague, Detroit native Paul Kersey. As we embarked on the trip, he told me “Detroit is a story that must be told.” He was right. I’d seen the pictures and knew the history, but...

TAGS: Detroit

Parents and students lost in the CPS struggle over power and money

08/20/2013
When Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, unveiled its list of 50 schools to be closed this past summer, Chicago Teachers Union, or CTU, President Karen Lewis acted as if the union she leads was a victim of the city’s $1 billion deficit — not a willing accomplice in its creation. Lewis will probably never say...

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...
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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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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