TIF Slush Fund Siphons Money from Chicago School Coffers

School finance die-hards will want to check out Ben Jarovsky's column on school finance in Chicago, in which he basically seems to be claiming that the Board of Education is getting rooked out of big tax revenues by the Mayor.

Please, Sir, We Want Some More: (PDF) The schools are afraid to ask Daley for money that should have been theirs to begin with.(Chicago Reader)

Perhaps it isn't surprising that's certainly something you don't hear much around here. Arne Duncan and Michael Scott and the press all focus almost exclusively on the state school finance system, which is much more reliant on local property taxes than state revenues:

Does money transform schools?: Illinois debates its big rich-poor spending gap (Christian Science Monitor)

Dimmed prospects for school funding reform Summer Web Issue (Catalyst Chicago)