CTBA experts are available to provide insight, analysis, and data to the press on a wide range of public policy issues. In addition, CTBA disseminates new research and timely updates on policy developments to the media.
What We Do
- Policy analysis and advocacy
- Empirical research
- Advice and technical assistance
- Strategic leadership in coalitions
- Legislative testimony
- Public education
Daily Herald guest columnist Ralph Martire writes that what our nation needs now is leadership that can build trust across ideological lines and create a unifying path forward despite our differences.
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Chicago Public Schools is getting a slightly smaller increase in state funding than it was expecting. Loretto Hospital workers reached a tentative contract agreement with hospital leaders. The Illinois Supreme Court plans to issue an opinion today on the state’s ban on assault weapons. CTBA's Allison Flanagan sums up the caution of looking at CPS K-12 EBF Adequacy at face value.
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Illinois has over-relied on local property taxes to fund K-12 education, effectively tying educational quality to local property wealth that is markedly lower in segregated Black communities. The Supreme Court ruled that universities can’t use affirmative action to level the educational playing field, so it’s up to state government to do so, Ralph Martire writes.
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Guzzardi’s Illinois House bill would tax the unrealized portfolio gains of billionaires at the income tax rate for individuals of 4.95%. Skeptics say this kind of proposal could run counter not only to the Illinois constitution’s uniformity clause, but also to a provision that there will be only one tax on income. “Does taxing unrealized gains count as income?” says Ralph Martire, executive director at the nonprofit Center for Tax & Budget Accountability. “That question will come up.”
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If consumer services such as landscaping were subject to Illinois' sales tax, it could generate billions for the state and allow legislators to reduce tax rates overall. CTBA Executive Director and Roosevelt University Rubloff Professor of Public Policy, Ralph Martire comments on a recent three-year budget forecast issued by the state legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability that reports the state could expand its tax base by applying a sales tax to service-based businesses.
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Ralph Martire joins Jennifer Fuller on WSIU’s In Focus to talk about state spending on higher education ad CTBA’s new report, Why Illinois Should Enhance its Investment in Higher Education. The program aired on Thursday, April 13, 2023, at 7:00 pm across all the WSIU PBS stations (Carbondale, Olney, Macomb, Springfield, and Quincy), WSIU, WUSI, WMEC, WSEC, WQEC. Not in the WSIU viewing area? Watch the segment any time at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLED-h9ncHk
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Though legislatures’ budgets are still up in the air, patterns are emerging around college funding. In an interview with Higher Ed Dive, Ralph Martire said, the share of revenue at public institutions that comes from state appropriations has fallen about 11 percentage points, from 68% to 57%. The governor “has proposed bumping it up by $100 million, and that’s great,” said Martire. “But that’s not going to come anywhere near making up for its loss of value,” he said.
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As university faculties around Illinois strike for better pay and working conditions, budget analysts have found that state spending on higher education has fallen dramatically over the past 20 years. When adjusted for inflation, state spending on higher education fell 46 percent between 2000 and 2023, according to a new research report from the left-leaning non-profit think tank Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. “At this point, there has been such a decline and such an underfunding of the system, (the state) has essentially disinvested itself,” CTBA Associate Director for Budget and Policy Allison Flanagan told Capitol News Illinois.
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Chicago’s fiscal challenges can’t be solved with smoke and mirrors. During his mayoral campaign, Brandon Johnson differentiated himself from Paul Vallas in meaningful ways. On everything from public safety to public education, Johnson offered a progressive vision, while Vallas advanced a more conservative perspective. Another key difference between the two involved fiscal policy. CTBA Executive Director and Roosevelt University Rubloff Professor of Public Policy, Ralph Martire breaks down some of the challenges facing Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.
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Chalkbeat’s Becky VeVea mentions Ralph Martire and CTBA (at the 13:30 mark) in WTTW’s Week in Review episode, talking about the relationship between Johnson and the CTU and how they’ll likely be more collaborative.