Maine

Supply without demand: public school hires increase while enrollment drops

10/30/2012
There are too many people working in America’s schools. From 1950 to 2009, the amount of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees grew 386 percent while the amount of public school students only grew by 96 percent, according to a recently released report from the Friedman Foundation for Educational Excellence. Looking even closer at the data reveals...

Senate Forms Committees to Study Workers’ Compensation and Medicaid Reform

By Chris Andriesen
11/18/2010
by Wesley Fox Senate President John Cullerton announced today that he will form committees to study workers compensation and Medicaid reform, which are initiatives Republicans promoted during the campaign.  The committees would advance legislation for a possible vote in January,according to the Sun-Times. Illinois’s workers’ compensation requirements are costly and discourage employers from hiring or even doing business...

Medicaid Taking Huge Bite Out of Illinois Budget

10/04/2010
by Wesley Fox Like many states, Illinois faces severe budget problems resulting from the economic recession.  Illinois’s budget problems are made worse by the massive cost of its Medicaid program.  According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, Medicaid represents approximately 30% of the Illinois budget. Only two other states (Maine and Missouri) commit more of their...

$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...

Illinois Gets “D” Grade on Civil Forfeiture Laws

08/02/2010
by Brian Costin Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, with civil forfeiture, a property owner need not be found guilty of a crime—or even charged—to permanently lose her cash, car, home or other property, a system which creates perverse incentives for law enforcement and jeopardizes a citizen’s property rights. The Institute for Justice recently released a 50-state report...

Chicago Forward 2026: A pro-growth plan to end city budget deficits

Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.

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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