Statement from President Klickna on Gov. Quinn's Budget Message

Colleagues: Today, Gov. Pat Quinn spoke about the state of the Illinois' budget. It was a mostly grim presentation; he talked about the need for budget cutting that will mean closing state health care facilities, prisons and reducing the number of state employees. The governor also spoke of the need to make cost-saving changes in the state pension and Medicaid systems. 

The only somewhat positive information for public education is that the budget proposal, containing so many cuts to so many programs, maintains funding for K-12 and higher education. In addition, the state will increase early childhood funding by $20 million. The Monetary Award Program (MAP), which provides college scholarships for needy students, will also see a funding increase of more than $50 million. 

The budget is a proposal and still must be approved by the state legislature. Pensions IEA leaders have been involved in discussions with leaders from other Illinois public employee unions to try to identify

Solutions to the pension crisis the governor spoke of today. The Illinois Labor Pension Coalition has been meeting regularly for months. More recently, the coalition has had conversations with the Governor, legislative leaders and various state legislators, exchanging information and looking at scenarios that might help lead to proposals that can address the Illinois pension problem. IEA has stated from the beginning that we are open to discussing ideas that will help put the state of Illinois and the state pension systems in better fiscal health. We also have made clear that any proposals that IEA decides to support:

      •    Must be constitutional

      •    Must be fair to our members

      •    Must help stabilize the pension systems. 

Here are some excerpts from the governor’s speech: “We must stabilize and strengthen our pension systems to prevent them from swallowing up our core programs in education, health care, and public safety and to ensure that we can pay all our bills. We need to do pension reform in a way that’s meaningful, constitutional and fair to the employees who have faithfully contributed to the system. We can do this in a way that does pass constitutional muster.  But everything has to be on the table.”

“…Historical funding practices, employer contributions, employee contributions, the retirement age, and the cost of living adjustment. When it comes to solving our pension challenges, everybody must be in and nobody left out. It should be noted that only 22 percent of the $5.2 billion pension cost this year is actually for the retirement costs of state employees. More than three quarters of this pension cost is for non-state employees—from suburban and downstate teachers, to our university and community college employees. Every unit of government has a stake in this mission. We must repair this broken system.  And we must do it now.”

We are glad the governor reiterated his commitment to a constitutional solution and we applaud his firm position that the problem should not be the sole responsibility of the participants in TRS, SURS and the other state employee pension systems.  Our members have always made their pension payments. It is the state that has failed to meet its obligation to the systems, causing the crisis. It also is clear from the governor’s remarks, as well as statements from all of the legislative leaders, that currently employed state pension system participants will be expected to play a role in fixing the problem.  IEA leaders and staff are fighting to protect the pension benefits of our members. The goal is to protect the state pension systems, thereby ensuring our members get the benefits for which they have paid. The active participation of IEA members in back home lobbying and other actions will lead to the best possible result for the members.  Please check the IEA website regularly for information about pensions and other key issues of concern.