K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: The Tragic Mismanagement of Chicago’s Public Schools.

Chicago’s public school system is on the verge of facing financial insolvency, and it’s not because selfish taxpayers have been starving it of revenue—both the Windy City and the state of Illinois have significantly higher than average tax rates. Much of the school district’s acute fiscal distress can be chalked up to mismanagement, plain and simple—short-sighted decisions by blinkered public officials who chose to mortgage the school system’s future against pension benefits for current retirees. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that CPS is finally drowning under the weight of interest on debt it has accumulated over the last decade. . . .

This kind of financial mismanagement is not unique to Chicago—a recent study found that debt accumulated by teacher pension funds is costing teachers nearly $7,000 per year in salary—but it appears to be especially acute there. If state legislators and district superintendents had managed their resources with an eye to the future, they would have tens of thousands of dollars more to hire better teachers, experiment with new educational programs, and otherwise invest in the well-being of their students. Instead, they have saddled themselves with debt that will be virtually impossible to pay off without severe cutbacks to the city’s underperforming schools.

All is proceeding as I have foretold.