Chicago math: CPS has 378K students and $9 billion in debt

CPS is on a mental Disney
fantasy cruise

Picking through details from an article on the WBEZ web site--oh, that's the Chicago NPR affiliate, so this information does not come from a conservative outlet such as the Wall Street Journal--I came across a couple of interesting nuggets. Chicago Public Schools wants to borrow $900 million to survive the school year and make a massive pension payment--instead of the $400 million it was asking for just last week.

Digging deeper into that article you learn that CPS is burdened by $9 billion in debt. Which comes out to $24,000 per student. If CPS manages to borrow the new cash that will bring the troubled and ineffective school system's debt to nearly $10 billion. But it may not be able to--Chicago Public School's bonds have been rated as junk for two years.

Some sort of bankruptcy or a default is coming to CPS. Numbers don't lie. Its plan to keep borrowing until enough pensioners die will not work.

"Pension holidays," deceptive pension "pick-ups" for teachers by CPS, and soaring salaries have contributed to this debacle.

Not surprisingly, most CPS students are terrible at mathematics.

Last month Barbara Byrd Bennett, the former CPS CEO, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for her role in a kickback scandal.

Two years ago Chicagoans were slugged with the city's largest property tax hike in history. Chicagoans suffer from the nation's highest sales tax rate.

Chicago is the only major American city losing population.

Decline and fall.