by Will Compernolle The Sun-Times reports that more than 10% of Metra employees last year made at least $20,000 in overtime pay. Total overtime pay in 2009 reached nearly $20 million. Metra says that, while it’s hardly ideal to spend so much on overtime pay, there’s not much it can do about a lot of it. Accidents, bad...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson At end of May, the Illinois General Assembly adjourned without addressing how to pay for the $6 billion in unpaid bills and required $3.7 billion pension payment for next year. But both houses did have time to pass House Bill 0859. The bill’s synopsis as introduced states that the bill: “Appropriates $1,000,000 from the General...
By Collin Hitt
06/08/2010
The Challenge The most important policy adopted by any school or school district is its contract with its teachers. Yet new and aspiring school board members in Illinois have few accessible guides to a collective bargaining process that will determine how teachers are hired, placed, compensated, rewarded and disciplined. A New Tool for Better Policy...
Meeks' voucher bill, now being considered in the House Executive Committee, will offer 22,000 kids hope for a better life.
An Wall Street Journal editorial highlights the baby steps Illinois is taking toward enacting public employee pension reform.
By Collin Hitt
03/17/2010
Tens of thousands of Chicago families are trapped in failing public schools. A new school voucher program has been proposed by the Reverend Senator James Meeks. Its goal is to give parents of students enrolled in the worst performing public schools the choice to send their children to private schools. Similar programs in other states...
The Sunshine Commission would provide yet another tool to help root out inefficiencies and waste in Illinois government.
By Bryant Jackson-Green
01/04/2010
The state legislature pads local government pension benefits, and taxpayers get to pony up the money to pay for it.
By Collin Hitt
07/24/2008
Executive Summary Illinois has 871 school districts. Each one is supposed to efficiently provide a high-quality education to all students who enroll in its schools. It is no secret that many districts have struggled with providing a high-quality education. Others have struggled to do so efficiently. A number of reforms exist to help school districts...
By Chris Andriesen
03/27/2008
Many Illinois citizens, facing unaffordable insurance costs within state borders, are forced to cross their fingers when it comes to their family’s health. It doesn’t have to be this way. Illinois families and children can live healthier, happier and safer lives. Every day, Americans purchase products from around the country—vegetables from California, fruit from Florida,...
