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Raise Your Hand Coalition
PI Original
by Josh Kalven
2:38pm
Mon Aug 23, 2010

Daley's TIF Empire Gets Targeted In Springfield

Tax Increment Financing

Flanked on Sunday by Chicago Public Schools parents and the Chicago Teachers Union, State Rep. John Fritchey rolled out an ambitious package of proposals aimed at taking hundreds of thousands of dollars out of Daley's "piggy bank" and returning them to cash-strapped local schools.

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
1:47pm
Thu Jul 29, 2010
2 comments

Daley's Billion-Dollar TIF Surplus Is Not Untouchable

Tax Increment Financing

As was the case in Chicago at the end of 2008, Mayor Daley closed last year's books with over $1 billion in unspent tax increment financing funds.  We summarize some of the ways that money could be redirected to cash-strapped taxing bodies, such as the city's public schools.

Quick Hit
by Adam Doster
10:05am
Fri Jul 9, 2010

Daley's TIF Dodge

Facing increasing scrutiny from affordable housing advocates and parents, Mayor Daley is getting defensive about Chicago's tax increment financing (TIF) network. Earlier this week, an administration official incorrectly stated that the city spends "a good amount of TIF for affordable housing." And in a new WBEZ report, the mayor responded this way: "Most of our schools are built with money from the TIF districts."

It's true that a substantial TIF dollars go towards school construction.  But as the Reader's Ben Joravsky recently noted: "TIF isn't really intended to pay for projects like schools. In fact, while legal, using TIF to build schools is antithetical to the program."  At the same time, Daley's TIF network has historically absorbed $250-$300 million in annual property tax revenue that would otherwise flow to the Chicago Board of Education's beleaguered budget.

The Raise Your Hand coalition is scheduled to meet with CPS chief Ron Huberman next week to discuss their reform ideas, including a proposal to exempt the Board of Education's tax dollars from the TIF system.  Stay tuned ...

Quick Hit
by Adam Doster
10:58am
Tue Jun 29, 2010

Parents "Put Off" By Huberman Press Conference

The Raise Your Hand Coalition (RYH) was happy to stand behind Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman at a press conference yesterday as he announced that he would only have to raise the maximum high school class size from 32 to 33 students (rather than 35, as had been threatened).

But Catalyst's Sarah Karp reports that the group of CPS parents were "put off" when Huberman used the occasion to pressure the Chicago Teachers Union to forgo a scheduled pay increase. "We wanted to highlight this as good news," RYH organizer Jonathan Goldman told us this morning, referring to the class size announcement. "But it's just one piece of the puzzle."

While they're not wading into the issue of teacher raises, RYH argues that another piece of the budget puzzle should involve amending the tax increment financing (TIF) statue to exempt CPS tax revenue from being diverted into Mayor Daley's shadow budget. The parents have a meeting scheduled with Huberman in mid-July to discuss that proposal as well as other potential budget fixes. "We're going to go in and lay out our thoughts and concerns and see what they have to say," Goldman says. Still, any significant changes will hinge on Daley himself. And one month after they hand-delivered a letter requesting a meeting on the subject, the coalition is yet to get a response from his office. "We don't expect Huberman to come out publicly on TIF and buck the mayor," Goldman says. "[Daley's] the political leader of the city -- he has to step forward on these issues."

PI Original
by Adam Doster
1:26pm
Wed Jun 16, 2010
2 comments

Chicago Teachers Increasingly Targeting TIF

Education

With teachers, parents, and administrators grappling over how to close the giant hole in the Chicago Public Schools' budget, tax increment financing has become a recurring issue in the debate.

Quick Hit
by Adam Doster
1:53pm
Wed Jun 2, 2010

CPS Parents To Daley: Bust Open The TIF Budget

Chicago Public School students and teachers have taken to the streets in recent weeks, pleading with state and city lawmakers to find new revenue to prevent deep cuts to public education. Parents aren't standing on the sidelines, either. The Raise Your Hand coalition, a new and growing group of parents representing over 250 schools in Chicago, lobbied hard in Springfield these past two months to preserve level funding for education in the state's FY 2011 budget.

With those negotiations now basically completed, the group is turning their attention to the city budget, which the CPS board will scrutinize during a June 23 meeting. Yesterday, the group delivered a letter to Mayor Daley's office requesting a meeting to discuss the district's multi-million dollar deficit. The coalition even attached a copy of our 2009 article analyzing the amount of TIF money that's diverted each year from schools. Read it below:


Raise Your Hand Coalition letter to Daley