Illinois

Fox River Valley students could soon take part in virtual classroom

03/20/2013
A new multidistrict virtual school could be coming to the Fox River Valley. K12, one of the largest online learning companies in the country, is currently traveling across Illinois in the hope of getting 18 school districts to approve its charter. The company already runs a number of online schools nationally. In Illinois, it oversees the Chicago...

Citizens deserve a seat in the room — it’s time to require open meetings for collective bargaining

By Chris Andriesen
03/20/2013
On February 28, 2013, Illinois’ largest government union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents nearly 40,000 state employees, completed months of negotiations with state government over a new contract, yet taxpayers were locked out of the bargaining room during all of them. Since that time, taxpayers are still waiting to...

Wrong way Illinois: January 2013 unemployment worsens compared with neighbors

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner
03/18/2013
The latest BLS unemployment release once again highlights how poorly Illinois is faring compared with its neighbors and the nation as a whole. Illinois’ January unemployment rate jumped to 9 percent, a 0.4 percent increase over December’s rate. Illinois now has the seventh-highest unemployment rate in the nation, with nearly 600,000 Illinoisans unemployed. Meanwhile, the...

Pension ramp leaves taxpayers without an exit

By Ted Dabrowski
03/18/2013
On March 11, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Illinois with securities fraud. The SEC accused the state of misleading investors by understating the depth of the pension crisis. The most revealing statement from the SEC: “The statutory plan structurally underfunded the state’s pension obligations and backloaded the majority of pension contributions far into...

Minimum wage increase would be a blow to unskilled workers

By Benjamin VanMetre
03/17/2013
Illinois already has the fourth-highest minimum wage in the nation and is one of 19 states with a minimum wage higher than the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. But the state’s current rate of $8.25 isn’t enough for Illinois lawmakers, who want to increase the minimum wage to $10.25 an hour. Efforts to increase the minimum...

Facing facts: the numbers show Illinois is losing people

By Benjamin VanMetre
03/16/2013
Illinois loses one resident every 10 minutes to net out-migration. It should be no surprise that people are fleeing Illinois. Illinois ranks 48th in economic outlook, 45th in GDP growth between 2000 and 2010, and 47th in its level of entrepreneurial activity. There is little opportunity left for Illinois’ families and entrepreneurs to succeed. And...

Blagojevich hits one-year mark in prison – has anything changed?

By Brian Costin
03/15/2013
March 15, the ides of March, is the one-year anniversary of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich heading to prison. At the time of his conviction Illinois Policy Institute CEO John Tillman hailed the Blagojevich verdict as an opportunity to end an era of corruption in Illinois. “This trial represented what is the absolute worst of...

38 Illinois agencies recognized for Sunshine Week

By Brian Costin
03/15/2013
Illinois has a serious corruption problem. Illinois is ranked as the third-most corrupt state in the country. When it comes to fighting corruption, proactive online transparency is one of the greatest tools a local government agency can implement. It’s also an essential tool to educate and engage citizens to participate fully in the democratic process. During Sunshine Week...

SEC charges Illinois with securities fraud

By Ted Dabrowski
03/15/2013
[updated 3.15.13] Illinois politicians are not honest about the depth of the state’s pension crisis. They chronically understate the scale of the problem to taxpayers and state workers. According to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the state has misled investors as well. Today the SEC announced it was charging Illinois with securities fraud. From a...

Collective bargaining transparency bill HB 2689 shot down in House Committee

By Paul Kersey
03/14/2013
Yesterday a bill that would allow the public to see union contracts and comment on them before they are signed stalled in committee, becoming yet another victim of pressure from union officials who want to keep the public in the dark about the deals they make. The bill actually had both supporters and opponents from...
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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...

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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