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Buried nugget and magic beans

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* The Sun-Times interviewed embattled CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. Scroll way down…

Both borrowing and TIFs would be one-time band-aids. That’s why the mayor and CPS say they are looking to Springfield for more long-term sustainable solutions.

The CTU blamed Martinez for not going downstate earlier in the spring to lobby for more funding for CPS.

Martinez on Wednesday said the city was too focused on other issues, such as a few CPS-related bills on an elected school board, school cops and selective enrollment programs.

He added that officials from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office told Martinez and Board of Education President Jianan Shi in a “heated” meeting in May that CPS and the city didn’t appear aligned on funding as their top legislative goal.

The current strife doesn’t help CPS make its case. But Martinez said he’d like to go down earlier in the spring session and make funding the top priority.

The mayor never asked the governor or legislative leaders for additional CPS funding, even though he was saying publicly that the state “owes” CPS $1.1 billion (which isn’t true). Instead, he was more focused on a new stadium for the Bears and some other issues.

* And now for the magic beans, via WTTW…

Before Martinez publicly called for TIF funds to be used to balance CPS’ budget, CTU leaders called for all funds now set aside in TIF districts to be returned to taxing agencies, which would allow CPS officials to balance the district’s budget.

That would likely violate state law and upend Johnson’s already approved plan to phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on TIFs and use those funds for a wide-ranging slate of projects designed to expand the supply of affordable homes and good-paying jobs.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 1:55 am

Comments

=That would likely violate state law and upend Johnson’s already approved plan to phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on TIFs=

Not to mention the fact that developers who rely on TIF funds to improve blighted properties would be stopped.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 7:17 am
No one wants to plant actual beans (increase property tax rates) and have to work to make that happen when you can plant magic beans.

Comment by OneMan Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 7:50 am
Doesn’t a TIF surplus increase the local capacity (real receipts) in the evidenced based funding formula and therefore reduce state funding the following year?

Comment by Two Left Feet Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 8:02 am
OneMan is spot on.

Johnson and CTU don’t want to take the heat for the actual work that needs to be done, they want someone else to do that for them which is pretty much how CTU has always behaved and it makes sense that Johnson is the same way. BUt mayors actually have to govern and Chicago has to solve its own problems like grown ups sometimes. Even lightfoot sort of knew that.

Comment by JS Mill Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 8:37 am
CTU gets tougher and tougher to defend by the day. The leadership spouts whatever sounds best for them at the moment and doesn’t care about the truth or consequences of what they are saying because of their self-righteous attitude that what they are doing is for the kids, even when that’s not true.

Comment by ElTacoBandito Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:09 am
Where I live the school district raises property taxes when needed. We passed a sales tax referendum to deal with building issues. The school district has consolidated schools with a decreasing student population. The school district works to raise revenue and lives within its means. Somehow Chicago’s mayor and CTU thinks we are taking money from them that they should have. Along the way they have lost my respect and support for more of my downstate income tax dollars to pay for Chicago’s schools. Also, I am tired of basically being called a racist because I think they should responsibly manage their school district and do more than demanding a billion dollars from rest of us.The public school district where I live that I support whole heartedly is comprised of majority of minority students also. Just my thoughts.

Comment by Almost Retired Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:11 am
Kind of surprised Vallas hasn’t weighed in on all this (unless I missed it).

Comment by Lincoln Lad Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:18 am
This will come off as snark, but it’s not intended to be.

Why wouldn’t Johnson go to the state legislature for approval of a city income tax?

Comment by Downstate Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:19 am
“The mayor never asked the governor or legislative leaders for additional CPS funding,”
just wondering who/what the source is for that statement. i’m not at all a fan of landslide brandon,and i don’t mean to criticize, but that seems like a bit of a stretch

Comment by paul w, chicago Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:36 am
“Instead, he was more focused on a new stadium for the Bears and some other issues.”

I just have to LOL here.
CTU gets their mayor to fight the class war and he is immediately distracted by the whims of rich people who don’t even live in Chicago.
The world doesn’t have enough clown emojis.

Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:40 am
While we are floating funding ideas that are illegal can we go ahead and revisit the LaSalle Street Tax?

Comment by James Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:43 am
It’s magic beans to use money from the city budget (TIF dollars) to pay for schools.

Comment by SWSider Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 9:45 am
-No one wants to take the heat for consolidating the 1/3 of CPS schools that are less than half full-

There’s doesn’t seem to be a majority for that sensible solution just yet.

Comment by Steve Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:08 am
== just wondering who/what the source is for that statement. ==

paul w, that comes from the Governor and numerous members of the General Assembly. It is solid. He absolutely did not ask for more funding, and neither did CTU. CTU asked to move from a fully elected to a hybrid board, and for a moratorium on school closures. The Mayor asked for Bears $.

Comment by RPOne Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:09 am
When activists run the show for MBJ and the CTU , the system begins to go off the rails. Strategic planning might move the needle for the needs of the district.
Replacing the school board accomplished very little to rectify the funding issue other than call attention to MBJ’s leadership.
If Pedro Martinez leaves, who would want the job considering the climate created by the turmoil on the fifth floor.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:12 am
Pedro has a sensible proposal to declare excess TIF funds, so CTU has to propose abolishing all TIFs. Got to hold on to that 20% approval rating.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:15 am
Increase the CPS property tax.

Comment by Dupage Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:15 am
CTU and Brandon Johnson blaming Pedro Martinez for failing to get more funding out of Springfield is akin to Jerry Reinsdorf blaming the White Sox third base coach for their 121 losses.

Comment by Sal Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:16 am
>>>>Kind of surprised Vallas hasn’t weighed in on all this (unless I missed it).

He has not talked CPS/CTU yet, but he is contributing regularly over at Chicago Contrarian.

Comment by We've never had one before Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:25 am
===a sensible proposal to declare excess TIF funds===

You call using one-time money to patch a hole in the longterm spending base “sensible”? We must have different dictionaries.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:27 am
===You call using one-time money to patch a hole in the longterm spending base “sensible”? We must have different dictionaries.===

If you have a better idea, I would love to hear it.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:34 am
== Johnson and CTU don’t want to take the heat for the actual work that needs to be done, they want someone else to do that for them== -JS Mill

That is absolutely correct.

Comment by low level Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 10:54 am
- Downstate -

The Mayor and his allies couldn’t get voters behind the Bring Chicago Home tax that only hit if you were selling property in the City. And his approval rating was better back then. What member of the ILGA is going to get onboard doing an even broader tax hike for City Hall now what City Hall couldn’t get done just a year ago?

Comment by ChicagoBars Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 11:07 am
“The Mayor and his allies couldn’t get voters behind the Bring Chicago Home tax that only hit if you were selling property in the City”

Again, I’m not trying to be snarky. But if presumably a majority of Democrats favor “fair share” taxation, why wouldn’t a tax on the high earners be palatable to the elected officials?

Comment by Downstate Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 11:21 am
I am sure whose all stars were worse Rauner’s or Johnson’s?

Comment by Annon3 Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 11:36 am
Not sure

Comment by Annon3 Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 11:36 am
=Kind of surprised Vallas hasn’t weighed in on all this (unless I missed it).=

Vallas was on a Twitter space earlier in the week commenting and has posted. See his twitter.

“Pritzker should revive School Finance Authority to take financial control of schools, approve contracts, audit programs, provide direction. Pursue a Consent Decree to remove obstacles to improving schools & provide poor parents with school choice. Here are the reasons. READ MORE.”

Comment by Jim Jimbo Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 11:46 am
==Again, I’m not trying to be snarky. But if presumably a majority of Democrats favor “fair share” taxation, why wouldn’t a tax on the high earners be palatable to the elected officials?==

The GA and Governor found that to be palatable. It requires a constitutional amendment, and when put before the voters, the voters found it to be unpalatable. It’s not on the table. The Bring Chicago Home tax was a similarly targeted tax on high value property. Voters in Chicago nevertheless said “no” to that by a wide margin.

==If Pedro Martinez leaves, who would want the job considering the climate created by the turmoil on the fifth floor.==

If Pedro leaves/is forced out, he will be replaced by someone who is willing to accede to the union and mayor’s wishes, rendering the issues on the 5th floor largely irrelevant for them.

Comment by Anon324 Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 11:57 am
rp one, thanks for the clarification

Comment by paul w, chicago Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 1:03 pm
=“Pritzker should revive School Finance Authority…=

Vallas should know better (he probably does) but CPS is nowhere near the condition that would justify an ISBE takeover. CPS is not insolvent, not even close. And they have many tools that they seemingly refuse to use to fix their predicament (because it would make people mad at them). Although I do not have upclose knowledge of the two times the state took over East St. Louis schools, I do know that they had no options for revenue and were basically insolvent. Twice. Corruption was also allegedly an issue.

Comment by JS Mill Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 1:26 pm
Reminder - Paul Villas had a major role in creating the CPS mess by diverting and deferring pension funding. He’s not going to be part of any solution.

Unfortunately, the Mayor doesn’t seem to want to be part of a realistic solution, either.

Comment by Keyrock Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 2:17 pm
=Paul Villas had a major role in creating the CPS mess by diverting and deferring pension funding.=

One can argue about the trajectory of CPS finances (into the depths of the 2001 stock market bubble imploding). But it is a fact that CTPF was 99.5% fully funded at the time Vallas left. Page 117.
https://www.ctpf.org/sites/files/2020-10/cafr_2001_final_ocr.pdf

Citing Vallas as a ‘major role’ from 23 years ago in a fully funded pension is an overstatement at the very least.

Comment by Jim Jimbo Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 2:49 pm
==If you have a better idea, I would love to hear it.==

If I were a mayor who wanted to increase CTU funding in a way that might get support from others, I would have (i) proposed new revenue sources–perhaps video gaming in Chicago bars or putting gambling in Midway and O’Hare (not to say that this is necessarily a good idea, but the law allows it), (ii) proposed any kind of cut or consolidation of CPS–even a few small concessions to close some of the schools at

Comment by Garfield Ridge Guy Friday, Oct 11, 24 @ 3:19 pm