2026 what needs to be done Article 1
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. The funnel of Illinois money to Chicago and also his family’s pocketbook. Published reports https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18PH5YVZwk/?mibextid=wwXIfr state that the family has received $180 million for its downtown Chicago Hyatt hotel. Then we hear Pritzker bragging about increased in education funding from the state. Let’s ponder these two items.
Why should the State of Illinois pay for any renovations for a privately owned hotel. Are they making room for Pritzker’s illegal immigrants? Even if, that should be fee for service at most. In fact, illegal immigrants already have lodging available at detention centers. Nope, this is a politician siphoning taxpayer money to his own pocket.
Education funding in Illinois. I will compare Chicago Public Schools to Geneseo Illinois Public Schools. Geneseo public schools according to U.S.News and World Report had a revenue of $15,855 per student with expenses of $12,752 per student. 57.9% local revenue, 33.5% State revenue, and 8.6% Federal revenue. It has an annual revenue of $39,052,000. Overall, the district spends $7,328.5 million on instruction, $4,678.8 million on support services and $651.6 million on other expenses.
They have a 14:1 student-teacher ration. 35% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 29% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 26% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 23% tested at or above that level for math. And 42% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 32% tested at or above that level for math. They have a high school readiness rate of 34.8. According to the Illinois Report Card the graduation rate is about 88%
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) spends $21,508 per student each year. According to U.S.News and World Report CPS has an annual revenue of $8,436,144,000. Overall, the district spends $13,747.4 million on instruction, $6,639.2 million on support services and $663.4 million on other expenses. Revenue per student was $25,576 with expenses per student of $21,508. Funding is 52.8% local, 29.9% State, and 17.4% federal.
CPS also has a 14:1 student-teacher ratio. 18% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 15% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 18% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 15% tested at or above that level for math. And 15% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 14% tested at or above that level for math. High School readiness is 27.9% and a high school graduation rate of 75.8%.
If I were a spreadsheet person I would say that with the amount of money the City of Chicago spends per student, a difference of $8,756 that they should be producing results better than Geneseo. After all, $8,756 is a good sum of money, more than half of what Geneseo spends. Geneseo spends more per student locally than Chicago. Yes, Chicago gets less from the state but gets more than double the revenue of Geneseo from the Federal government.
CPS is facing a $734 million budget deficit due in part to expiration of pandemic relief funds, rising costs on teacher contracts and pensions. As does the city of Chicago, the CPS has a spending problem. Both districts ha faced falling attendance over the years and Geneseo seems to have reacted better. Geneseo has been able to close unused schools compare to Chicago that has forty-seven schools at less than one-third capacity and a law that says schools cannot be closed.
I will ask this summary question. If Chicago public schools get more money from the state coffers, should outstate be able to say how the money is to be used? And flip it, if outstate schools want more money, can Chicagoans be able to say how the money is used? Can outstaters tell Chicagoans to get their fiscal house in order and consolidate some of those two-thirds empty schools? It seems that big city politicians and administrators always want to close the small rural schools that have better performance than the big city schools.
Pritzker accuses Bailey of wanting to divert public school funds to his private school, Full Armor Christian Academy, a private Christian school in Louisville, Illinois, co-founded with his wife, Cindy, in 2016. The school serves students from preschool through 12th grade and uses a curriculum developed by Bob Jones University Press, which emphasizes Christian doctrine and has been criticized for promoting controversial views on race, LGBTQ+ rights, and history.
I take a moment to mention that many private schools in the twentieth century were under attack for one reason or another, especially in the larger cities. After each world war, German Lutheran schools which taught in German changed to teaching in English to avert confrontation and stay in business. On December 1, 1958, a fire started in a trash pile in the school basement and burned unnoticed for at least twenty minutes at Our Lady of the Angels school in Chicago killing ninety-five of the sixteen hundred students and three nuns. The school was built according to the code at the time, but that was found to be insufficient and in the 1950,s rules were amended for building schools. Also impeding the firefighters was the iron fence around the school. I also heard form one of the relatives of a survivor that the doors were kept locked as the school had previous threats of attack.
There were no public funds involved in the Our Lady of the Angels school. There were however differences of opinion on curriculum which caused it to be a fortress that day.
I mention curriculum opinion differences as Full Armor Christian Academy has its curriculum under attack. But when the curriculum of the public schools is questioned there is no pulling of funding and in many cases curriculum yet.
It is said that the best control of schools is local. I once questioned a school superintendent about signing on to a federal program that would take away local control of the same program which was serving the district without problem. His response was that we could always find more students to use the services. So management wants to say they have local control right as they are giving it up!
Looking at funding it comes from state, federal and local funding. If state sales taxes are used for funding, the amount of funding can be derived from the collections of the sales tax in an area and that then becomes a local funding amount. If other money comes from the state and federal funding sources, they can but rules for spending in place. You are now no longer local!
Business subsidy and school funding, curriculum, and control are just two Illinois issues that have exiled residents from the state. There are more and they will be covered in this forum.
There are two big problems. The governor and the legislature. As long as there is a legislature that gives the governor these Illinois destroying bills to sign, all the governor can do is veto. Ask Bruce Rauner how well that went.
If there is any type of change in Illinois governing policy it is three fold. One, change governors. Two, change the legislature make up. Three, minimize the influence of Chicago on Illinois governance.
If any one is missing, no real change occurs!