Family Taxpayers Foundation

Focus on Illinois Schools

Citizens’ Group charges Geneva SD 304 with ‘Enrollmentgate’

A Geneva School District 304 resident Monday questioned how enrollment figures given in the 2007 referendum were inflated. Sandra Ellis said she questioned how the enrollment projection could be so inflated, even beyond the district’s own consultant’s highest projection. That consultant had projected increased enrollment from 2006-2012 at 345 students. Yet school officials in 2007 [...]

Momentum for School Choice (except in Illinois)

Many states have opened their public schools to competition. Indiana has set up an expansive voucher program that covers students in families that have incomes below $61,000 a year. Wisconsin has expanded school choice programs in Milwaukee and Racine. Ohio will give tuition vouchers to as many as 60,000 students by 2013. Under Louisiana’s ambitious [...]

Emanuel urges Illinois lawmakers to take on pension reform

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited the state Capitol on Tuesday and testified about his proposal to cut pension costs. He wants to raise the retirement age, make city employees contribute more to their pension funds and halt cost-of-living increases for retirees. He also wants the state to contribute pension money for Chicago teachers, as it [...]

High School English Teacher Laments Tribune “Pummeling”.

Recently the Chicago Tribune published a letter from Paul Easton, an English teacher at New Trier High School District 203. Among other complaints, Mr. Easton bemoans the “pummel(ing)” teachers have been taking at the hands of the Tribune editors.” He also blames “legislative malfeasance” for the current pension fiasco but says nothing about his $117,000 [...]

Yes, Public School Districts Should Pay for Pensions

My, my, there is certainly a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over Gov. Quinn’s proposal to ask the local school district’s to pay part of the cost of the pensions. Everyone both Democrat and Republican are against it. The concern is the increase in property taxes that might ensue from implementation. The total [...]

Education News, Policies & Opinions

Education and Activism – A Fine Line

OK. Raise your hand if you believe wholeheartedly that public school teachers are employed by taxpayers to educate students in the academic subjects required for high school graduation — and not to feed students their personal political or social-issue opinions and encourage protests. The problem is that it can be tough to spot a difference [...]

Education is the Key to a Healthy Economy

In addressing our current fiscal and economic woes, too often we neglect a key ingredient of our nation’s economic future—the human capital produced by our K-12 school system. An improved education system would lead to a dramatically different future for the U.S., because educational outcomes strongly affect economic growth and the distribution of income. Click [...]

How Retirement Benefits May Sink the State

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently offered a stark assessment of the threat to his state’s future that is posed by mounting pension and retiree health-care bills for government workers. Unless Illinois enacts reform quickly, he said, the costs of these programs will force taxes so high that, “You won’t recruit a business, you won’t recruit [...]

Movement to end “last in, first out” layoff rule gaining momentum across the nation

For years, teachers unions across the nation have insisted on using seniority as the sole criteria for filling open positions and determining layoffs. That’s because unions are designed to protect the job security and incomes of their more senior members, often at the expense of the unlucky newcomers. ” But that philosophy doesn’t work well [...]

Overpaid Public Workers: The Evidence Mounts

Recently, an analysis by two Bureau of Labor Statistics economists, published in the winter 2012 Journal of Economic Perspectives, concluded that the salary and current benefits of state and local government employees nationwide are 10% and 21% higher, respectively, than private-sector employees doing similar work. This study didn’t even factor in the market value of [...]

Solutions for Success

Homeschooling still a Popular Option

The reasons parents homeschool their children varies. They like the flexibility; plus, they like the influence they have on their children by teaching them at home. Some parents primarily decide to homeschool for reasons of faith. And parents of special needs children or gifted children are choosing to homeschool because they can tailor the curriculum and program [...]

Ideas to improve Southland (South Chicago Suburban) schools

“Mr. Shelstrom, every year (after the school report cards are released) you come to this board meeting and criticize our schools’ performance. Why don’t you move?” — Consolidated High School District 230 Board member Kathy Quilty Perhaps the reasons why Southland schools are generally considered among the most underperforming in the Chicago suburbs have [...]

Fund the Child, Not the District

Mike Pettrelli and the Fordham Institute should be commended for starting the conversation on “school governance.” Mike’s two important posts on the topic can be found here and here. This triggered comments from the grande dames of the status quo, Randi Wiengarten and Diane Ravitch,. The discussion brings an important question into focus. Why do we even need “school districts?” [...]

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