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Illinois Teachers, the Most Comfortable in America

10/28/2010
by Collin Hitt Teacherportal.com, an online resource for teachers and would-be teachers, has created a Salary Comfort Score Index that ranks each state. Illinois public school teachers always rank among the country’s highest-paid, but what standard of living does that provide once other factors are accounted for. A word from Teacherportal on its methods: The...

Illinois Says Stop Borrowing and Start Cutting

10/06/2010
by Ashley Muchow Pew Center on the States and the Public Policy Institute of Californiareleased a comprehensive study this morning zoning in on the public’s opinion of state fiscal management. The study, Facing Facts: Public Attitudes and Fiscal Realities in Five Stressed States, polled residents from five fiscally distressed states: California, Arizona, Florida, New York, and our very...

Once Superman Leaves

10/06/2010
by Collin Hitt Trib columnist Clarence Page got some $@%^ with his recent book purchase: “Oh, that (expletive) movie is so full of (expletive),” the young woman [who worked at the bookstore] muttered. “Waiting for Superman,” said the book’s title. Page was purchasing the companion book to the movie of the same super title. “Waiting for Superman”...

States with Business-Friendly Policies Growing

09/28/2010
by Wesley Fox Over the last decade, Americans have steadily moved to states with lower taxes and fewer regulations on businesses.  The population of business-friendly states such as Texas, Florida, and Utah has increased significantly.  In fact, all three are expected to gain seats in the Congress after they are reapportioned. According to a recent...

Big Stimulus Bucks for New Tests

09/03/2010
by Collin Hitt In more serious news, the federal government announced the final $350M in awards that it’ll be handing out for Race to the Top.  This time, the Department of Education is funding multi-state initiatives to develop better standardized testing models.  Illinois belongs to one of the winning groups, which features Florida as the lead state.  If things...

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...

Public Education 2.0

08/19/2010
by Collin Hitt A new national group has formed to advance online and technology-driven learning in public schools, the Digital Learning Council. I’ve been asked to serve on the council, an honor considering the accomplished careers of those who’ll also be joining the group – for starters, the council is co-chaired by former governors Bob Wise and Jeb Bush. It looks...

Success from the Sunshine State: Time to Copy Florida’s Winning Strategies

By Collin Hitt
08/05/2010
The Problem In recent months, Illinois has been home to an intense debate over school reform. A school voucher bill co-authored by Sen. James Meeks has received a great deal of attention, and for good reason. It would give parents in Chicago’s worst and most overcrowded schools the option to send their children to a...

D.C. Schools Superintendent Wants Vouchers

07/26/2010
by Collin Hitt Special education in Washington D.C. public schools is mired with problems. So much so that legally savvy parents of special needs students often win big-dollar lawsuits to have their children placed in city private schools. Across the country, the role that private schools play in special education is small but significant.  Parents,...

With Government-Centric Health Insurance Children Lose

07/26/2010
by Mark Cavers The Associated Press reports that some major health insurers, including Florida providers Blue Cross and AETNA, will stop offering certain types of insurance for kids because of regulations passed in the Administrations’ health insurance bill. The decisions stem from insurance companies’ fear “that parents will wait until kids get sick to sign them...
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Taxed out: 10 reforms to stop Illinois from losing people and jobs

Illinois’ tax code stands in the way of the state’s economic competitiveness. The combination of high tax burdens and a poor tax structure contributes to the loss of jobs and investment to other states. From a place of former economic dominance, Illinois now ranks 45th in gross state product (GSP) growth over the past decade...

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Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

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

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016