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
Days before classes start, the Chicago Teachers Union has announced it will hold a new strike authorization vote. The union’s 40-member negotiating team has recommended an October walkout.
If union members vote yes – as they did in December by an 88 percent margin – the House of
CTBA Executive Director Ralph Martire recently spoke with WGN Radio's Mike Stephen on Outside the Loop about education funding. Speaking about Illinois' fiscal imbalance, Ralph told listeners, "You can't rank at or near the bottom in total state and local tax burden and meet your
What's the outlook for Chicago taxpayers, and what are the policy tradeoffs in choosing property taxes, utility taxes, or other sources of revenue? On Tuesday, CTBA's Amanda Kass appeared on the CBS 2 news to answer those questions, and explain that today's need for increased revenue comes after years of deliberate pension underfunding.
LINCOLN SQUARE — Chicago Public Schools has been operating in financial crisis mode for years, and the solution to the district's perpetual funding woes could be as simple as taxing services like haircuts, according to one finance expert.
The idea was promoted by Ralph Martire, executive
Chicago Public Schools local school councils better put some budget money aside because some promised state aid — that doesn’t cover a $300 million gap — comes with strings attached. That was the advice coming from experts at a budget forum Monday night.
A group of Chicago experts have written short articles outlining ways to save and generate MAJOR revenues for Chicago.The organizer and editor is Tom Tresser (www.tresser.com) and the book is based on this Huffington Post Chicago from September 2015:
This week, Gov. Bruce Rauner announced a new, bipartisan commission charged with, drum roll please, creating a new school funding formula. This being Illinois, much of the immediate response ranged from sarcastic -- as in "Be still my heart, the umpteenth kagillion state task force on education
Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority’s (MPEA) debt service payments may take a backs at to other budget issues in the absence of a FY17 budget for Illinois, said Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
The prolonged gridlock between Democrats and Republicans
Recently, Governor Bruce Rauner and many of his strongest Republican supporters in the General Assembly have made it a point to urge voters who live in central and southern Illinois, and the legislators who represent them, to "stand up against the Chicago political machine" and refuse to allow
Recently, Governor Bruce Rauner and many of his strongest Republican supporters in the General Assembly have made it a point to urge voters who live in central and southern Illinois, and the legislators who represent them, to "stand up against the Chicago political machine" and refuse to allow their tax dollars to be used "to bailout the City of Chicago." Superficially, this message most likely resonates with many who live in the communities where it gets delivered.