Spend $93K per student and what happens? None can read at grade level.

By Hannah Schmid

02/13/2025

Not a single 11th-grade student was proficient in reading or math in 2023-2024 at Douglass Academy High School. The near-empty school has the highest per-student spending in Chicago Public Schools.

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools, CTU: Chicago Teachers Union

Illinois’ low social mobility: causes and cures

01/28/2025

Published Jan. 28, 2025 Illinois Policy Institute Center for Poverty Solutions, in partnership with the Archbridge Institute By Joshua Bandoch, Ph.D., head of policy, Illinois Policy Institute and Justin Callais, Ph.D., chief economist, Archbridge Institute EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A low-income person’s ability to move up in society is worse in Illinois than in any other Midwestern...

Enough? Chicago aldermen to vote on mayor’s property tax hike

By Matheus Cosso

11/12/2024

Mayor Brandon Johnson broke a campaign promise by proposing a $300 million property tax increase to fund his $17.3 billion budget. On Thursday the city council will vote, and the signs are not good for Johnson.

TAGS: Chicago, property taxes

Chicago Public Schools’ financial crisis can again be fixed by state oversight

By Joe Tabor

11/05/2024

By 1980, financial mismanagement led Chicago Public Schools to lose its ability to borrow money, to miss multiple payrolls and vendor payments, and to drop deep into debt. The state stepped in with a financial oversight authority. It’s time to do that again.

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Fact Sheet

08/28/2023

Chicago is one of the nation's greatest cities, but it has challenges. An outline of four of the most significant problems.

March Madness means millions in tax revenue for Illinois

By Dylan Sharkey

03/14/2023

Illinoisans bet more than $275 million on March Madness in 2022, with the state netting more than $2 million in tax revenue. Revenue totals for sports betting in 2022 were the second highest in the nation behind New York.

TAGS: Illinois gambling, legal gambling, March Madness

Classrooms First: District consolidation can improve Illinois’ education outcomes while saving taxpayers money

By Adam Schuster

08/24/2021

Classrooms First Act would benefit virtually all Illinoisans including teachers, parents and students.

Indiana set to fully reopen state; Illinois remains stuck

09/24/2020

As Indiana gets back to normal, Illinois is locked into Phase 4 restrictions until further notice.

TAGS: coronavirus, COVID-19, executive order, Indiana, JB Pritzker

Champaign City Council gives mayor power to impose curfew, seize private property

By Vincent Caruso

03/13/2020

Water rationing and forced business closures were among a litany of emergency powers the city council granted Champaign’s mayor and city manager in response to the global health crisis.

TAGS: ban, Champaign, coronavirus, COVID-19, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Illinois gas tax hike comes packed with pork

By Austin Berg

07/12/2019

Illinoisans deserve a pothole-free future. But are they getting a bang for their gas tax buck? Or is Pritzker’s $45 billion “Rebuild Illinois” program just another vehicle to deliver special favors? A deep dive into the capital plan points toward the latter, showing at least $1.25 billion in pork-barrel projects.

TAGS: gas tax, JB Pritzker

Northwestern University

Spend $93K per student and what happens? None can read at grade level.

Illinois’ low social mobility: causes and cures

Enough? Chicago aldermen to vote on mayor’s property tax hike

Chicago Public Schools’ financial crisis can again be fixed by state oversight

Chicago Fact Sheet

March Madness means millions in tax revenue for Illinois

Classrooms First: District consolidation can improve Illinois’ education outcomes while saving taxpayers money

Indiana set to fully reopen state; Illinois remains stuck

Champaign City Council gives mayor power to impose curfew, seize private property

Illinois gas tax hike comes packed with pork

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

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

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