Indiana

Illinois one of only 7 states with unemployment higher than one year ago

05/20/2013
by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner Illinois continues to have the nation’s second-worst unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April labor report. The state’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.3 percent in April, down from 9.5 percent in March, and is still nearly two percentage points above the 7.5 percent national average. The state’s drop...

The CPS shuffle: moving students and money, with no promise of better results

05/15/2013
by Josh Dwyer When Chicago Public Schools first announced that it was closing schools, the primary justification it gave was to save money – upward of $500,000 to $800,000 per school. It needed the money to address the looming pension cliff the city is facing next year. When people began questioning those numbers, CPS’s story...

Capitol Updates: May 6 week in review

By Jane McEnaney
05/11/2013
Both chambers were in session this week in Springfield. Moratorium on virtual schools passes out of committee On Tuesday afternoon, House Bill 494 passed out of the Senate Subcommittee on Charter Schools and was subsequently approved by the full Senate Education Committee. The Illinois Policy Institute’s Executive Vice President Kristina Rasmussen and Director of Education Reform Josh Dwyer attended both...

Illinois competitiveness: ChiefExecutive.net ranks state 48th best for business

05/08/2013
by Ted Dabrowski Illinois politicians can’t hide from their decade-long policy failures. Jobs are scarce, as evidenced by the state’s 9.5 percent unemployment rate. That’s second worst in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state’s finances are in shambles and Illinois now pays the highest penalty rate for borrowing when compared to other states....

Illinois lawmakers push to keep kids and education from 21st century learning

05/06/2013
by Ted Dabrowski* With a bill that blocks the authorization of any new virtual charter schools, state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, aims to slow Illinois’ move into the 21st century. Her law, House Bill 494, calls for a one-year moratorium “on the establishment of charter schools with virtual-schooling components in school districts other than [Chicago...

The power of school choice

05/03/2013
Meet Emilia Melendez – a mother of four from Milwaukee.  She didn’t finish high school and works at a private school where she earns just enough to take care of her family. She desperately wants her children to have the educational opportunities she never had, but realizes that she doesn’t have the means to help...

Charter school waiting lists: the other side of the story

03/31/2013
WBEZ in Chicago has published one of the more incomplete stories on charter schools I’ve read in a long time. It asserts: Charter advocates and even the Chicago Tribune editorial board say 19,000 kids are on charter school waiting lists in the city.

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...

Business tax credit offers more options for school choice

03/12/2013
A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about how Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, introduced a bill that would give tax credits to corporations if they donate to nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships to students in low-income families for private school tuition. Now, state Rep. Michael Connelly, R-Wheaton, has introduced a parallel bill in the Illinois General Assembly....
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4 ways to break out of Illinois’ pension trap

Causes, costs, how to set the state free

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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