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Sauk Valley: For Illinois state workers, it's a special holiday come vote time
Once upon a time, Illinois state workers took better perks in exchange for lower pay.
Today is different. The perks remain, but Illinois state workers are now the highest-paid state workers in the nation, after adjusting for cost of living. Most are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
One of those perks will fall on Tuesday.
Illinois Times: Medicaid fraud a $30 billion industry
Want to make some easy cash? Try defrauding Medicaid.
It’s a booming business, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which says the total amount of “improper payments” for Medicaid last year totaled more than $29 billion and accounted for nearly a tenth of all payments. Just one caveat: you’ll probably get caught, and you may serve some prison time.
This illicit industry – along with other kinds of costly health care waste – is the subject of a new report released last week by the Illinois Health Care Fraud Elimination Task Force. Created by Gov. Bruce Rauner in April, the panel hopes to battle fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid, state employee health insurance and workers’ compensation cases. The surprising thing is, however, that the vast majority of fraud in government-funded health care programs isn’t perpetrated by patients; it’s done by doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical providers.
Daily Southtown: Lincoln-Way financial decline raises questions about state oversight
If Lincoln-Way High School District 210’s spending and revenues match its budgeted amounts this year, the district will post its first operating surplus in at least a decade.
But that achievement alone won’t spell an end to the district’s financial woes. In September, Lincoln-Way authorized borrowing $20 million in short-term loans to help fund operations this fiscal year, and the cash-strapped district will need to borrow millions more in the coming months.
Before landing on the state’s financial watch list in spring 2015, Lincoln-Way was seen by many as a model of strong fiscal management. Now, however, the district’s precipitous financial decline offers a cautionary tale for taxpayers in Illinois, a state with limited oversight of school district finances. Roughly 60 percent of Illinois’ more than 800 school districts reported deficit spending, the state reported in March.
Chicago Tribune: Almost 1 in 4 Illinois teachers miss 10-plus days of school year
Illinois for years has tracked how often students skip school, but data made public last week show how often their teachers miss school — and the numbers are revealing.
Across the state, 23.5 percent of public school teachers are absent more than 10 days in the school year. That’s almost 1 in 4 teachers statewide who aren’t in the classroom, according to data made public by the state for the first time in the annual Illinois Report Card, a compilation of data that paints a broad picture of schools.
Teacher attendance is considered critical because it provides continuity in the classroom, both for instruction and providing attention to students. Kids don’t do as well when teachers are absent for more than 10 days in a school year, according to research cited by the U.S. Department of Education, and districts end up spending money to pay substitutes.