Pumpkins, pensions, and the CTU's 'cooked' books

 

Just like the Illinois Policy Institute says: Illinois grows more pumpkins than any other state.

   Is criticism a crime?
     As fond as I am of teachers, generally, and despite being a good union man myself, I couldn’t help but shake my head in wonder at the Chicago Teachers Union, which I consider a fairly savvy organization, suing a pair of conservative watchdogs, the Illinois Policy Institute and the Liberty Justice Center, for sinking their teeth into CTU finances and accusing the union of using “cooked” books.
     First, way to turn a spotlight on their accusations. Believe it or not, I’m not checking the Illinois Policy Institute website every morning to see what’s in its crosshairs. Doing that, right now, I see their top story is on ... pumpkins.
     “The state produces enough pumpkins to make nearly 8 billion pumpkin spice lattes, the most pumpkins in the U.S.” At first I thought it must be a mistake — the colorful, pumpkin-centric page labeled “Illinois Policy” must be different from “Illinois Policy Institute.”
     Nope. Same folks.
     But is it true? According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the top producer of pumpkins in the country is ... Illinois, head and shoulders above the rest, responsible for 40% of all the big orange squashes grown nationwide.
     Did you know that? I did not. Score one for the Illinois Policy Institute.
     The second story “Chicago Teachers Union Undermines Yet Another Charter School” begins: “The Chicago Teachers Union’s relentless attacks on charter schools has claimed another victim. The Chicago High School for the Arts announced it will not renew its contract with Chicago Public Schools, citing financial struggles. It will stop operations at the end of the current 2025-2026 school year.”
     Is that true? The selective enrollment, privately managed school will stop operations. But the school itself will transition into a public school. You could also say ... as a Sun-Times story suggested last month ... that CPS stepped in and saved the school after its operators decided to abandon it, one of the many downsides of privatizing public education. As a rule, the Chicago Public Schools are not shutting down schools willy-nilly, at least not since Rahm Emanuel left office.

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