Democratic Party

Charter Schools in the UK?

11/01/2010
by Collin Hitt The UK is considering a new policy modeled after charter schools in America.  Called “free schools,” the proposal has been endorsed by Arne Duncan in advance of his visit to the country this week.  A story in today’s London Telegraph framed the issue well, and quoted yours truly: For Mr Gove, the...

Rhee or Vallas to Chicago?

10/12/2010
by Collin Hitt Chicago mayoral hopeful Gery Chico says that he’d be interested in bringing Paul Vallas back to run the city’s public school system.  Chico mentioned the possibility to Chicago Magazine columnist Carol Thelsenthal, who had floated the idea of bringing Michelle Rhee from Washington, D.C. to Chicago. I asked announced mayoral candidate Gery Chico, a...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools new CEO?

10/07/2010
by Collin Hitt The unsurprising word has leaked that Chicago schools chief Ron Huberman – a Daley appointee – will leave his post before the beginning of a new administration. Greg Hinz… With Chicago Public Schools officials confirming a Chicago Sun-Times story that schools chief Ron Huberman will leave along with Mayor Richard M. Daley, who else...

Reality vs. Rhetoric: taxes

10/05/2010
by Mark Cavers Last week the President was campaigning in Iowa when he was asked about his administration’s perpetual push to increase taxes.  His response: “Your taxes haven’t gone up in this administration. Your taxes have gone down in this administration. There’s a notion that, well, he’s a Democrat so your taxes must have gone up....

Special Elections Could Thwart Democrats’ Plans for Lame Duck Session

09/24/2010
by Wesley Fox Some Republicans in Congress have expressed concern Democrats in Congress will use the lame duck session after the November election to push through controversial legislation such as Cap and Trade and Card Check.  The concern is that the Democrats who lose in the election will go ahead and vote for these controversial measures since their job will...

What Karl Rove Should Have Said

09/16/2010
by John Tillman Tuesday night, I happened to be watching live when Karl Rove fulminated on the Christine O’Donnell win in the Delaware GOP Senate primary.  You can see the full video here but I’ve provided a transcript (from Fox News) of some of the key passages below.  Among the things Rove said: “This is the inexplicable (emphasis added)...

Fixed Race To The Top?

08/27/2010
by Collin Hitt Illinois lost a very-high-stakes federal grant competition. The “Race To The Top” program has gathered headlines across the country for the better part of a year.  It wrapped up earlier this week, with 12 states and the District of Columbia splitting $4B in stimulus largesse to fund public education. Ostensibly, the grant...

More Bailouts? Ask Senator Durbin.

08/06/2010
by Ashley Muchow What’s that?  More bailouts?  That’s right, I said it.  More bailouts.  Illinois’s own, Senator Dick Durbin, has confirmed his support of Senator Robert Casey’s (D-PA) brilliantly frivolous bill, ironically titled the Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act, to bailout approximately $165 billion of underfunded union pension funds. Believe it or not, our state government is...

$26 billion bailout of state and local government overspending

08/05/2010
by Kristina Rasmussen Congress is on its way to passing a $26 billion bailout of state and local government overspending. States like Illinois can’t afford to fund the costly Medicaid benefits and plush public employee union contracts they’ve bestowed, so the federal government is stepping in to fill the gap. Illinois is slated to “get” over $1...

Stroger Uses Jobs to Reward Friends, Punish Foes

07/15/2010
by Will Compernolle A court-appointed watchdog group claims Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is “using the county payroll to reward those who backed his failed re-election effort and punish those who did not,” the Chicago Tribune reports. Stroger’s staff has lowered minimum job qualifications, pretended not to know job applicants when they did, tried to invoke...
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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