Don Tracy: CPS Debt Crisis Exposes the Failure of the Illinois Blueprint
CHICAGO — A new Civic Federation report finds CPS carries approximately $9.3 billion in outstanding debt, has a junk credit rating, and has relied on debt structuring that pushes costs further into the future. Researchers warn that additional borrowing could worsen deficits, further damage the district's credit standing, and place CPS on a path toward insolvency.
Despite billions in additional taxpayer support, the district faces a projected $732.5 million deficit, mounting pension obligations, and warnings that additional borrowing could threaten its long-term stability.
For years Chicago Public Schools and their allies, like Juliana Stratton, have treated taxpayers like a blank check," said Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Tracy. "More spending. More taxes. More debt. And more problems.
"You can't tax-and-spend your way to prosperity. Yet that's exactly what Chicago career politicians try to do. If throwing money at problems worked, CPS would be thriving. Instead, as working families send more and more property taxes and other funds to CPS, the financial outlook of CPS gets worse.
"This is the Illinois Blueprint that Juliana Stratton says she wants to take to Washington. Working families and businesses should take her seriously when she says that. The ‘Blueprint’ is playing out right in front of us: higher spending, higher debt... and you left holding the bag with more taxes to pay.”
Don Tracy is available for phone, video, and in-studio interviews.
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About Don Tracy:
Don is Senior Counsel at Brown, Hay & Stephens, the oldest law firm in Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln famously practiced law for four years. Public service is important to Don, with a lifetime spent in community service, most often in volunteer positions. He has served as Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board, Secretary of the Illinois Bar Foundation, President of the Sangamon County Bar Association, Chairman of the Illinois Corporate Acts Advisory Committee, and President of the Abraham Lincoln Association, President of the Oak Ridge Cemetery Board, among other community leadership positions. Born in Urbana, raised in Mt. Sterling in Western Illinois, and having raised his own family in Springfield in Central Illinois, Don has deep ties to "downstate Illinois." As the oldest of 12 children, family has always been important to Don.