Fact-checking Darren Bailey's "city in decline"

• We engage in plenty of criticism ourselves, so we're less bothered by that than the inaccuracy of his statements.

Reality check: Bailey wrote that "defunding the police" has made it difficult for officers to do their jobs.

• But Mayor Lori Lightfoot's 2022 budget actually boosted police funding by $189 million, from $1.7 billion to nearly $1.9 billion.

The other side: Bailey spokesperson Joe DeBose says Bailey supports the claim of defunding the police by using old budget data from 2020 to 2021 — when spending fell by $59 million — rather than the latest figures.

What's more: Bailey's assertion that CPS spent almost $23,000 per student in 2021 doesn't jibe with district calculations of $14,782 per student and is "not based on any facts provided by Chicago Public Schools," district officials tell Axios.

• And while the latest Illinois Report Card shows that CPS' per-pupil instructional spending is slightly higher than average in the state, that's not unusual in a district with high costs of living and high-need students.

• State officials say that CPS has only 67% of the funding it needs.

Yes, but: Bailey's camp says it arrived at its figure by dividing the number of students in the district by the total 2021 CPS budget, which includes legacy debt payments and capital funding — not just money that goes to schools.