Chicago Daily Observer

For over 20 years now, advocates have been caterwauling for Illinois to get its act together and reform how it funds schools. Inevitably, these calls for reform include both enhanced funding—statewide—coupled with additional accountability metrics covering everything from school district fiscal practices to teacher induction and mentoring. Just as inevitably, the process stalls and ultimately comes to a crashing halt over the call for enhanced funding —because that would require a tax increase. Not just any increase, but a relatively significant one approaching $2 billion just for schools.
The magnitude of the tax increase needed to fund education statewide is such that, it begs an obvious question: Would this investment be worth it? If you’re willing to strip away all the partisan and ideological rhetoric that generally surrounds school funding reform efforts, and instead consider only facts, the answer to this question is just as obvious: Yes, the investment ... Read More...

It’s Not Up to The Feds to Bail Us Out.

It was Chicken Little who cried, “the sky is falling in”, but now it is the media. Day in and day out we are peppered with stories – in print and on air – about how the real estate market is bad, how people are losing their homes, and how things are going to get worse with our economy.

It seems to be an epidemic, this spreading of fear to the populace. Read about it and hear about it twenty-four-seven and you get a tick in your right eye and a pain in your belly.

But there is another way of looking at the situation, one which isn’t getting much coverage but is true nonetheless.

But, before we go there, let’s look at the current situation.

One part of the problem is people who are losing their homes are people ... Read More...