Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘300’ Category

Politicians’ five-step guide for making parents think all’s well in Illinois schools

Posted in 220, 300, District 220 referendum, Education, Elections, Ethics, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)?, Wirepoints on November 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner | Wirepoints

Illinois’ educational establishment has been doing it for more than five decades. Year after year they’ve automatically advanced kids that can’t read or do math at grade level. They’ve graduated kids that are nowhere near proficiency levels on the SAT. And they always tell parents all is well.

They just did it again this month when the State Board of Education and Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the new state 2024 education results. This time to give the illusion of success, they conflated record graduation rates with improved elementary scores. Gov. Pritzker told parents: “This year’s report card shows we’ve reached the highest grad rate in 14 years at 87.7% AND the highest-ever proficiency rate in English Language Arts in grades 3-8.”

Tricky. When bragging about record graduation rates, it’s not elementary scores but rather high school SAT scores that matter. And those SAT scores are at or near all-time lows. Student reading proficiency statewide is down nearly 9 percentage points and math is down by over 10 points compared to 2017 when Illinois began using the SAT.

Note that the scores on the SAT – a requirement for all juniors in Illinois – were trending down even before the pandemic began.

But few parents are going know about those collapsing scores thanks to a five-step process Illinois education officials use to make public education look better than it really is:

Step 1. Lead with lofty statements to set the stage. Use phrases like “reaching new heights”…“powerful example of success”…”delivering real results.” Make sure to throw in the word “investment” several times. From ISBE:

“Students are reaching new heights & educators are setting a powerful example of success…our investments in students are delivering real results as Illinois continues to bounce back stronger from the challenges set by the pandemic. ~ @GovPritzker.

Step 2. Highlight “positive” stats and conflate the data where needed. In this case, tie record graduation rates to higher elementary-level reading scores.

Step 3. Ensure the media echoes the same message throughout the state. Use sympathetic traditional media sources to spread official talking points.

Step 4. Name-call anybody that challenges the narrative. Use terms like “carnival barker” and “denier” for groups that reveal the truth. Gov. Pritzker did exactly that in a gubernatorial debate in 2020 when challenged about Illinois’ school results (see Instagram Reel here).

Step 5. Rinse and repeat. Push the same narrative regarding “improvements” and “investments” just like in 2023, and 2022, and 2021 and 2019…

That’s how politicians perpetuate the system. It’s what prompted the Wall Street Journal to write: Illinois’s Shocking Report Card: The Land of Lincoln is failing its children and covering it up.

Read more here.

Read Full Post »

A top university bet on D.E.I. What went wrong?

Posted in 220, 300, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elgin Community College, Harper College, OP/Ed, Politics, School Districts, The New York Times, Unions on October 16, 2024| 1 Comment »

Photo illustration by Pablo Delcan and Danielle Del Plato

By Nicholas Confessore | The New York Times

Diversity, equity and inclusion programs are under attack. A dozen states have passed new laws restricting D.E.I. in public universities. Conservatives argue that the decades-long drive to increase racial diversity in America’s universities has corrupted higher education.

After covering some of these debates for The Times, I decided that I needed to see D.E.I. programs up close. So earlier this year, I began visiting the University of Michigan, one of the country’s most prestigious public universities.

Michigan voters had banned affirmative action in 2006, leading to a plunge in minority enrollment, particularly Black students. So the university built one of the most ambitious D.E.I. programs in higher education. It hoped to attract and retain a more diverse array of students and faculty. Since 2016, I learned, the university has spent roughly a quarter of a billion dollars on the effort. Each of Michigan’s 51 schools, colleges, libraries and other units has its own D.E.I. plan; many have their own D.E.I. offices. By one count, the school has more D.E.I. staff members than any other large public university in the country.

The program has yielded wins — a greater proportion of Hispanic and Asian undergraduates and a more racially diverse staff. It has also struggled to achieve some central goals. The proportion of Black undergraduates, now around 5 percent, has barely changed in a decade.

Most strikingly, the university’s own data suggests that in striving to become more diverse and equitable, Michigan has become less inclusive. In a 2022 survey, students and faculty members reported a less positive campus climate than at the program’s start and less of a sense of belonging. Minority students — particularly those who are Black — were also less likely to report “feelings of being valued, belonging, personal growth and thriving.” Across the board, students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or with different politics.

These are the precise areas of engagement that D.E.I. programs have promised to improve. I wrote a story in The New York Times Magazine today about why the effort is coming up short.

Campus paranoia

At the University of Michigan. | Nic Antaya for The New York Times

One reason I wanted to report at the University of Michigan was to better understand campus conflicts around identity and speech. Last year, the school received more than twice as many formal complaints of sex or gender discrimination than it did in 2015. During roughly the same period, complaints involving race, religion or national origin have increased from a few dozen to almost 400.

Some of that change reflects a growing willingness to challenge ugly behavior that might once have been tolerated. But people at Michigan also argued to me that the school’s D.E.I. efforts had fostered a culture of grievance. Everyday campus complaints and academic disagreements, professors and students told me, were cast as crises of inclusion and harm, each demanding administrative intervention.

At the law school, some students demanded that a professor be fired for referring to two students — who were both named Xu and sat next to each other in class — as “left Xu” and “right Xu.” Another class was derailed when the professor asked a white student to read aloud from a 1950s court decision containing the word “Negro.”

As at other colleges and universities nationwide, faculty and students told me, everything escalated in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. One professor, Eric Fretz, was pulled into a Title IX hearing because he invited his class to let him know when he wasn’t being sensitive enough to gender stereotypes. (A student complained that Fretz was forcing his female students to educate their own professor on how not to be sexist.)

What is D.E.I. really for?

Michigan’s recent past may be a glimpse of D.E.I.’s future. The school’s program was built to accomplish what affirmative action, forbidden in the state, could not. Last year, the Supreme Court copied Michigan and barred schools nationwide from using racial preferences in admissions, making administrators likely to reach for D.E.I. solutions.

What went wrong at Michigan? One answer is that programs like Michigan’s are confused about whom — and what — D.E.I. is really for. The earliest versions were aimed at integrating Black students who began arriving on college campuses in larger numbers in the 1960s and 1970s. But in subsequent decades, as the Supreme Court whittled down the permissible scope of affirmative action programs, what began as a tool for racial justice turned into a program of educational enrichment: A core principle of D.E.I. now is that all students learn better in diverse environs.

That leaves D.E.I. programs less focused on the people they were originally conceived to help — and conflicted about what they are really trying to achieve. Schools like Michigan pay lip service to religious or political diversity, for example, but may do little to advance those goals. Along the way, they make ambitious commitments to racial diversity that prove difficult to achieve. As a result, many Black students at Michigan have grown cynical about the school’s promises and feel that D.E.I. has forgotten them. They are, a leader in the university’s Black Student Union told me, “invested in the work, but not in D.E.I. itself.”

I encourage you to read the in-depth story of what went wrong.

Read Full Post »

Martin McLaughlin: 2024 candidate for Illinois House District 52

Posted in 220, 300, Elections, Ethics, Immigration, Politics, Resident Spotlights, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions, Village Government on October 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Bio

Party: Republican
Office Sought: Illinois House District 52
City: Barrington
Age: 59
Occupation: Pension management
Previous offices held: State Representative since 2021; Barrington Hills Village President (2013-21)

How should the state respond to the influx of migrants bussed here from Southern states?

Sanctuary city and sanctuary state status are unconstitutional and illegal. Elected officials take an oath to support and uphold the Constitution, and the laws of our land, and to protect the health, welfare and safety of every citizen in Illinois. Putting those who are here illegally before the needs of our legal constituents flies in the face of what we each have sworn to uphold.

We are now spending billions every year on illegal migrants who have not come through the proper ports of entry, prioritizing them over those in our communities in need — including veterans, the disabled, and our students who have been let down by school systems that have failed them. We need to invest in our communities first.

Are you satisfied with the state’s existing ethics policies for senators and representatives? If so, what about the policies should reassure Illinoisans that elected leaders abide by high standards? If not, what changes need to be made?

Ethics policies for senators and representatives should include the removal from any state insurance or pension benefit plans should they be found guilty of a crime in a court of law.

Every election cycle, the special interest contributing class has too much influence on legislators, by driving policies that are designed to promote and benefit those interested parties only. This should stop.

I have no problem making a promise that I will never become a lobbyist, but perhaps we should look into a law banning former elected officials or staff from lobbying the same government entity they worked for or were a member of.

Would you support a requirement that election petitions include a line asking candidates for their campaign email address?

The state election petition rules include all registration documents and our home addresses, along with other personal information which is all publicly available. I am for transparency at all levels. If the state decides to include this as a requirement, I will comply.

How well do you think criminal justice reforms made in recent years are working? What, if any, changes need to be made?

Criminal justice reform policies have not improved the lives of law-abiding citizens in Illinois. The crime statistics in Cook County, which went to cashless bail a year before the state did, have proven the point. Carjackings are up and muggings are up. Just watch the news and see the retail thefts and closing of stores not only in neighborhoods, but now in high dollar downtown retail regions.

The prioritization of criminals and criminals’ rights over citizens and citizens’ rights by the Democrat majority in the legislature has not been a good thing for all Illinoisans.

Remember that not one Republican voted for the SAFE-T Act, because the majority did not want any contrary input that would derail their agenda. I would support the repeal of the SAFE-T Act and many of the changes to our law, including redefining criminals as “justice impacted individuals.” They are not “justice impacted individuals” — they are offenders who have committed crimes against their fellow citizens.

We now have an assault weapons ban in Illinois. What if any changes should be made to the law? What more can be done to improve gun safety?

I am “for life” and “pro-choice” on the Second Amendment. Self-defense is a right of self preservation. I believe that every law-abiding Illinois citizen and my five daughters have the right to protect their lives choosing whatever means they deem necessary to stop a violent offender from harming or killing them or their families.

That right is protected by the Federal Constitution and our state’s attempts at changing these rights have put us into litigation which will be resolved in a manner consistent with Chicago, New York and Washington D.C. Our Federal Constitution is narrow and speaks to certain citizens’ rights. State Constitutions and laws do not get to usurp those protected at the Federal level. Alexander Hamilton said it best, “the (Federal) constitution shall never be construed … to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”

Illinois is the only state in the nation that mandates regular behind-the-wheel tests for senior drivers. Do you support any changes?

I am for eliminating routine behind-the-wheel testing for senior drivers after the age of 75, as the state’s own research indicates that they are the safest age group of drivers. I am a co-sponsor of House Bill 4431 and will ask for my fellow legislators to join me in this effort.

What personal qualifications do you bring that would make you an effective legislator?

I am a former mayor who has reduced budgets, taxes and spending by working with those who didn’t always agree with me. I am a business owner who understands the value of work and demands efficiency from local, state and the federal government when they spend our tax dollars. I know that policies only work when we have the funding for them.

Professionally, I manage pensions and protect seniors’ retirements. And I have been a coach for 22 years, working with families and their children, helping them become the best athletes and persons that they can be. I communicate with and listen to constituents and other legislators respectfully regarding their needs and their positions.

We may not always agree, but we have a better understanding of the issues when we focus more attention to what aligns us rather than what divides us.

Read Full Post »

Illinois taxpayers pay for more school staff despite fewer students

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Illinois Policy Institute, Look For The Union Label, Organizations, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on October 8, 2024| 1 Comment »

The number of administrators and teachers in Illinois public schools has increased while the number of students has declined. Illinois is adding administrators faster than teachers.

By Hannah Schmid | Illinois policy Institute

Illinois public schools are educating more than 125,000 fewer students than they were in 2000 but have continued to hire more administrative staff and teachers.

Adding staff could be justified if student proficiency were rising. But it’s not. Illinois students’ reading and math proficiency has trended downwards despite the increase in teachers and administrators.

It seems the Illinois public school system may be more determined to provide jobs for adults than educations for students.

Administrator growth outpaces teachers as enrollment declines

Between 2000 and 2023, the number of administrators in Illinois public schools increased 55%, outpacing the 8% increase in the number of teachers. The dramatic increase in administrators and teachers came as the number of students enrolled in Illinois public schools dropped 6%.

In the 1999-2000 school year, Illinois public schools employed 8,315 administrators. That number increased to 12,929 by the 2022-2023 school year, the most recent year for which the Illinois State Board of Education has published data.

The number of teachers increased by over 10,500 during that same period, from 124,279 to 134,817.

As the state spent more on administrators and teachers, enrollment in public schools steadily declined. Between 2000 and 2023, student enrollment dropped 6%, or more than 125,000 students.

Read more here.

Read Full Post »

Should Illinois millionaires fund property tax relief?

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Commodius Maximus, Deception, District 220 referendum, Education, Elections, Fat Bastard, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on September 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn discusses property taxes during a news conference in the Loop in 2022. Illinois voters will consider a nonbinding referendum Nov. 5 suggesting that millionaires get taxed more to fund property tax relief. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

By Dave McKinney | WBEZ

Helping homeowners: A 3% tax on individual income over $1 million would flood Illinois’ coffers with at least $4.5 billion in new revenues annually, a new state estimate shows, weeks ahead of an advisory referendum on earmarking that money for property tax relief.

Key context: The estimate, obtained by WBEZ through a state open-records request, marks the first time Gov. JB Pritzker’s Revenue Department has weighed in on the proposal’s effects on the state’s wealthiest citizens. Its goal is to ease what is a daunting financial issue for the middle class.

On your ballot: The exact wording of the ballot question reads, “Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000 for the purpose of dedicating funds raised to property tax relief?”

Bottom line: The results of the referendum won’t be binding, but the outcome could arm policymakers in the General Assembly seeking a constitutional amendment in 2026 — the year Pritzker himself may be on the ballot — to impose the millionaire tax for property tax relief.

Read on here.

Read Full Post »

Illinois part of national epidemic, with only 1 in 3 students reading well   

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Education, Illinois Policy Institute, School Districts on September 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Hannah Schmid | Illinois Policy Institute

There is an early literacy crisis nationally, and students’ futures are at risk when they are already behind in fourth grade.

In Illinois, only one-third of fourth-grade students met or exceeded reading proficiency standards on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.1

Every two years, fourth and eighth grade students across 50 states and District of Columbia take the national reading exam. According to the Nation’s Report Card, it is “the only assessment that allows comparison of results from one state with another, or with results for the rest of the nation.”2

Illinois is one of 35 states and the DC in which just one-in-three (or fewer) fourth grade students met or exceeded reading standards in 2022.3

Despite a smaller decline in proficiency following the pandemic compared to some other states, Illinois’ early literacy rate is the same as it was 12 years ago, meaning increases in education spending have failed to improve the literacy rate.

Research has pinpointed third grade as a critical reading milestone because students need to have learned to read by then or they will not be able to absorb the rest of their educations.4

But there’s hope: Many states, including Illinois, have passed laws aimed at aligning reading instruction with evidence-based practices to improve the literacy and academic achievement of students. Still, Illinois could and should do more.

JUST 33% OF ILLINOIS FOURTH GRADERS ARE PROFICIENT IN READING

On the most recent national exam in 2022, Illinois ranked 17th in the U.S. for the percentage of fourth graders at or above proficiency in reading. The reality of that ranking was just 33.3% of Illinois fourth graders could read at or above grade level and 34 other states and DC also have fewer than 1 in 3 students reading proficiently.5

The national percentage was 32%, with 24 states seeing proficiency above that level. Illinois barely made it onto that list.

In the Midwest, eight of the 12 states had a higher percentage of public school fourth graders at or above reading proficiency than the national percentage: Ohio, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Minnesota. Two of those had a higher percentage than Illinois: Ohio at 35% and Nebraska at 34%.

The overall highest percentage reported was in Massachusetts, where 42.6% of fourth graders were at or above proficiency in reading. Following were Florida with 39% and Wyoming at 38.3%.

Read more here.

Read Full Post »

Illinois gets low marks in educational freedom report

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Education, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on September 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Element5 Digital | Unsplash

By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square

A public policy research organization is out with its annual educational freedom report card for states, with Illinois appearing in the bottom half.

The Heritage Foundation’s annual K-12 report card evaluates states based on numerous education criteria, including education freedom, teacher freedom, academic transparency, and the return on investment for education spending.

Illinois ranked 34th overall, 37th for academic transparency, but 50th in the country for return on investment for education spending.

Last fall, Illinois lawmakers declined to renew the Invest in Kids tax scholarship program. Since 2017, the program had allowed residents and businesses to donate up to $1.3 million a year to scholarship funds and receive a 75% income tax credit on those donations. In 2023, the program provided scholarships to about 15,000 students.

“Most states right now are, if not looking intently at adopting school choice, at least considering how they might provide more options for families so for us that is a nonnegotiable bottom line moving toward education freedom,” said Linsey Burke, Heritage Foundation director of the Center for Education Policy.

The report card ranked Florida No. 1 for education freedom, followed by Arizona, Utah, Louisiana, and Iowa.

More here.

Read Full Post »

Smartphones in schools

Posted in 220, 300, Education, OP/Ed, Politics, School Districts, The New York Times, Topics Of Interest on September 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Confiscated phones in Orlando, Fla. | Zack Wittman for The New York Times

By David Leonhardt | The New York Times

A turning point?

Several times a year, I visit a high school or a college to talk with students about how I do my job and how they see the world. On a typical visit, I spend a few minutes in the back of the classroom while the teacher is conducting another part of that day’s lesson. These experiences have shown me what a dominant — and distracting — role smartphones and laptops play in today’s schools.

From my perch behind the students, I can see how many of them are scrolling through sports coverage, retail websites, text messages or social media, looking up occasionally to feign attention. It’s not everyone, of course. Some students remain engaged in the class. But many do not.

I would have been in the latter group if smartphones had existed decades ago; like many journalists, I do not have a naturally stellar attention span. And I’m grateful that I didn’t have ubiquitous digital temptations. I learned much more — including how to build my attention span — than I otherwise would have.

Above all, my recent classroom experiences have given me empathy for teachers. They are supposed to educate children, many of whom have still not caught up from Covid learning loss, while in a battle for attention with fantastically entertaining computers. A growing body of academic research suggests it isn’t going well.

Twister and pickleball

In Orlando. | Zack Wittman for The New York Times

But school officials and policymakers have begun to fight back. It’s probably the most significant development of the 2024-25 school year.

At least eight states, including California, Indiana and Louisiana, have restricted phone use or taken steps toward doing so. They are following the lead of Florida, which last year banned phones in K-12 classrooms. Other states, including Arizona and New York, may act soon. (My colleague Natasha Singer, who’s been covering this story, discussed these policies on an episode of “The Daily.”)

At the schools that have restricted phones, many people say they already see benefits. In a Florida school district that Natasha visited — and that went even further than the state law requires, banning phones all day — students now have more conversations at lunch and play games like Twister and pickleball. Before, children mostly looked at their phones, one principal said.

Of course, there are still some hard questions about these policies, including:

  • How do schools enforce the rules? And what is an appropriate punishment for breaking them?
  • Should schools ban phone use only during class time or for the entire school day? To put it another way, is a more social lunchtime worth the downside that parents can’t easily reach their children?
  • How can teachers incorporate technology into lessons, as the new laws generally allow, without undermining the policies’ benefits?

A mixed blessing

Even with these difficult questions, the new policies may represent the start of a broader shift. For much of the smartphone era — which began with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 — Americans treated the rapid spread of digital technology as inevitable and positive.

Now people view it as more mixed. “Smartphones have brought us a lot of benefits,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, told me yesterday. “But the harms are also considerable.”

Children’s mental health has deteriorated during the same years that smartphone use has grown. Loneliness has increased, and sleep hours have decreased. In surveys, both teenagers and adults express deep anxiety about their own phone use. By many measures, American society has become angrier, more polarized and less healthy during the same period that smartphones have revolutionized daily life.

Social scientists continue to debate precise cause and effect, but many policymakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, argue that the country can’t wait to act. Murthy agrees. “There’s an urgency to this,” he said. “What we need now is a great recalibration of our relationship with technology.” As encouraging examples, he cited schools’ new phone policies and the student-led Log Off movement.

If the country ultimately looked back on unfettered smartphone use as a mistake, it wouldn’t be the first time that a public health campaign took years to have an impact.

Russell Shaw, the head of Georgetown Day School, an elite private school in Washington, D.C., recently wrote an article for The Atlantic explaining why he was banning cellphones in all grades. Shaw described the ways that constant phone use had harmed social life and learning during his 14 years at the school. Yet he began the article with a historical anecdote on a different subject: When his parents attended high school in the 1960s, they received free samples of cigarettes on their cafeteria trays.

“I believe that future generations will look back with the same incredulity at our acceptance of phones in schools,” Shaw wrote.

Source

Read Full Post »

Pritzker scorecard: Illinois’ governor scorecard failing on economy, taxes, education ahead of the DNC

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Clown Car, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Education, Elections, Fat Bastard, FUBAR, Illinois Policy Institute, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, MOOBS, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, The Chicago Way, Unions on August 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Real-world outcomes for Illinoisans have dropped since Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office. The nation’s Democrats need to see where he’s taken Illinois before following his lead.

By Bryce Hill | Illinois Policy Institute

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was in the running to become Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, but his record in Illinois might have been why he became an also-ran.

Analysis of outcomes in Illinois under his leadership shows a laggard economy, worsening tax climate and declining educational outcomes since Pritzker took office in January 2019.

Economy

Many Illinoisans care most about economic trends and what these trends mean for them and their families. On virtually every economic metric, Pritzker has failed, particularly compared to other states.

Illinois economy anemic under Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Economic changes 2018-present, ranked in U.S.

Starting with the most basic of measures: Illinois’ population is in decline, and all this decline has been the result of domestic outmigration – Illinoisans fleeing the state. Illinois’ population has declined by 338,957 residents since mid-2018, the last estimate by the Census Bureau prior to Pritzker assuming office. Only New York has shrunk at a faster rate. This is essentially a vote of no confidence on the part of 338,957 people who used to live in Illinois.

Relative to other states, the number of new jobs created in Illinois is low – and this could be one of the reasons prime working-age people and their families are leaving. Illinois’ current 5% unemployment rate is the third highest in the nation. It is higher than the 4.6% unemployment rate Pritzker inherited when he took office. The growth in payroll jobs has been among the worst in the nation, ranking 43rd in total and even worse at 44th in the nation when it comes to growth in private-sector jobs.

Even for those Illinoisans who can find work, wages have been sluggish compared to their peers in other states. Wage growth in Illinois has been the fourth slowest in the nation since December 2018: only workers in Maryland, Virginia and Connecticut have seen their hourly pay grow slower. While it is often claimed Illinois is a high-income state, the data shows that is no longer true. Average wages in Illinois are $33.63 per hour, now in the bottom half of all states and ranking 28th in the nation. Before Pritzker took office, Illinois wages were 12th highest in the nation when adjusting for the cost of living in each state.

In other words, it is harder for Illinoisans to find a job than it is for residents in almost any other state in the country. When they do find jobs, they’re often lower-paying and offer slower wage growth than what their peers receive in other states. With results like that, it’s clear why so many Illinoisans are fleeing.

Taxes

Illinois’ business tax climate has also become increasingly hostile under Pritzker’s administration. Illinois’ business tax climate ranking has fallen eight places since 2018, and currently ranks 37th in the nation – worst among all neighboring states. Many neighboring states have improved their tax climates significantly in recent years. Indiana was the only other neighboring state to see their ranking decline since 2018, but it was a slight drop from a high ranking: from ninth place in 2018 to 10th place in 2024.

A major reason for Kentucky’s improved rankings were changes made to the state’s income tax in recent years. Kentucky approved a major overhaul of their individual income tax system in 2018, voting to replace their progressive income tax structure with a flat rate of 5%. Legislators also approved a plan to gradually lower the state’s income tax rate provided certain fiscal targets were met and the rate has since declined to a flat 4%. This is in direct contrast to Pritzker’s tax plans, which included a failed attempt to implement a progressive income tax like the one Kentucky overturned.

Read more here.

Read Full Post »

Average Illinois property tax bill rises $756 in 5 years

Posted in 220, 300, Harper College, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, The Chicago Way, Unions on August 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Homeowners in half of Illinois’ 102 counties saw their property taxes grow faster than inflation from 2018 to 2022. The median bill rose $756 in that time.

By Patrick Andriesen | Illinois Policy Institute

The typical Illinois homeowner is paying $756 more in property taxes than five years ago, and it’s not just inflation: half of Illinois’ 102 counties saw their bills rise faster than the cost of living.

Homeowners across 61 Illinois counties saw their property taxes grow faster than inflation from 2018 to 2022, with the worst-off homeowners seeing a 75% spike in the median property tax bill.

The biggest jump was for Lake County homeowners, where the median increased by $1,262. Tax hikes were less in rural counties, especially those farthest from Chicago.

Illinoisans already paid the second-highest property tax rate in the nation in 2022.

The typical Illinois homeowner paid about $5,055 in property taxes – more than homeowners in any other Midwest state and more than double the typical American homeowner’s $2,457 bill, according to the most recent census data for 2022. Illinois homeowners paid more in median property taxes in 2022 than the typical homeowner in Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina – combined.

Census data also shows homeowners living in every one of Illinois’ border counties would see their property tax bills reduced by moving to a similar value home in a neighboring county across the state line. On average, these homeowners would have saved about $1,595 in property taxes in 2022.

In Illinois, a homeowner’s property tax bill is based on two factors: the assessed value of the property and the amount of revenue local taxing districts seek to raise.

Schools levy most of the property taxes – about two-thirds across Illinois. Illinois has nearly 7,000 local government units with the power to demand property taxes, far more than any other state.

Read more here.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »