Chicago Public Schools has a school utilization problem. Over 34% are less than half full, 57% are underutilized, and 5% are overcrowded. Just 35% are at ideal capacity. The Chicago Teachers Union is preventing solutions.
The typical concertgoer will pay an extra $35 for their general admission ticket to Lollapalooza, thanks to the city’s amusment tax. A platinum pass will cost visitors more than the price of a standard ticket in taxes alone.
One way to “defund the police” is by not hiring officers – a strategy supported by many in Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s camp. The problem is, failing to hire more officers is backfiring. It leads to higher costs, some of which are very hard to count but easy to see.
Illinois added 8,400 jobs in June, but unemployment remained high compared to the rest of the nation. The state still hasn’t recovered the jobs it had before the pandemic.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled ending cash bail is constitutional. What does that mean for Illinois? It means ready or not, the system changes Sept. 18.
This edition of The Policy Shop comes to you from Paul Vallas, policy adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. Chicago can’t afford to wait before working to reduce crime – the city needs a plan. Unfortunately, no concrete details have emerged on how the new administration plans to address public safety, the No. 1 issue...
Repealing the state grocery tax has support from 7 in 10 Illinois voters, according to an Illinois Policy Institute poll. Illinois is one of just 13 states with a grocery tax.
Just 26% of IFT’s spending in 2022 was on representing teachers. IFT’s questionable spending could be why nearly 16,500 Illinois public school employees have chosen to distance themselves from the union.
Less than 8% of NEA and IEA’s spending in 2022 was on representing teachers, according to the unions’ federal reports. That could be why nearly 203,000 public school employees – including more than 6,000 in Illinois – have left NEA since 2017.
Illinois voters polled were 3 to 1 in support of the state’s only school choice program, Invest in Kids. But unless lawmakers act, the program ends this year.
More than 70% of Illinois voters polled are against automatic annual gas tax increases. Illinoisans faced two automatic hikes in 2023.
Illinois state and local pension debt now tallies $218 billion with both debt to GDP and funding ratios the worst in the nation, according to a new Equable Institute report.