Letter to the State Journal-Register

Recently, the Illinois Policy Institute, a “think tank” that doesn’t disclose its funding, issued a report claiming that in 48 percent of school districts across the state, teachers pay nothing toward their pensions.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Teachers pay their full 9.4 percent of every paycheck. They always have. Loyally. Without fail.
The fact is, over the years when negotiating contracts, teachers have given up pay increases and other benefits in lieu of the pension contribution.

For instance, instead of increasing salaries by 2 percent, a locally elected school board and district teachers may agree that the district will pay a comparable portion of the teachers’ contributions to the Teachers’ Retirement System.

This practice has saved school districts money over the years because picking up retirement costs is often cheaper than providing other benefits.  For less money, districts can offer a benefit that helps them attract and retain quality teachers — a bonus for students and the community.
Everyday, Illinois teachers help students understand complex issues. It appears the policy institute could use a lesson.

Here it is: What the institute is claiming is akin to saying that those who participate in Social Security haven’t paid their share of federal Social Security taxes because their employers are covering it for them.

A decent salary and good benefits are how employers everywhere attract good employees. Do we want less from our schools? There are few places where having the best and brightest matters more than in our schools.

— Robin Twidwell, president, Danville Education Association/IEA
— Suzanne Kreps, president, Decatur Education Association/IEA
— Vickie Mahrt, president, Unit Five Education Association/IEA (Normal
— Dan Ford, president, Springfield Education Association/IEA
— Beth Hand, president, Urbana Education Association/IEA 2110

Don’t break a legal contract
With lawmakers gathering in Springfield this week, it’s time to revisit an Aug. 24 column in The State Journal-Register by Dick Ingram, executive director of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois.

Ingram’s column regarding public pension systems informed the readers that:

1. Illinois pension systems are not bankrupt; they have unfunded liabilities, but that debt never has to be paid off at one point in time.

2. Because public employees cannot collect until they retire, the only amount that the pension systems must pay each year is the amount owed to retirees then.

3. Illinois pension systems will not run out of money or default in 10 or 15 years.

4. Pension benefits locked in place by the Illinois Constitution are not the main reason the system carries unfunded liabilities. State government has failed to contribute more than two-thirds of the money budgeted for pensions.

5. The annual cost of pensions is not bankrupting state government, but helping the Illinois economy. Pension benefits paid to retired public employees are a return on an investment.  Each dollar is recycled through the economy as retirees spend money exactly as they did when they were receiving salaries.

6. Combined, state government salaries and state-administered pensions during 2010 translated into a $24.5 billion economic stimulus for the state of Illinois.

State employees’ pensions are often the only retirement income for workers who have spent their entire careers in service to the state and its citizens. Those who try to alter pension benefits for current and/or future state employees, using misinformation to advance their agendas, seek to break a legal contract between the state and its workers.

A better use of their time and energy would be in rooting out ongoing financial mismanagement in the state. Those in past and current management positions in state government, whether elected or appointed, are culpable for the financial mess that state finds itself and should be dealt with accordingly.

— Jeff Donohue, Chatham