Illinois Pension Crisis

Again, looking through articles and trying to find my way into the facts, I found myself staring at an article from npr.org titled, "Shortfall Threatens Illinois Pension System". The author, David Schaper, took the approach I was looking for: really discovering what caused this mass pension crisis and what position the state is now in. "According to the Pew Center on the States, Illinois is worst in the nation when it comesto setting aside enough money for its pensions". Basically, Illinois is not meeting the standards already set for paying into pension funds and not overspending money that the state may not actually have. However, through a study in 2008 on states' pension funds, Illinois set aside just 54% of the money that's been promised to workers and retirees. Those kinds of shortcomings and lack of money has now set Illinois back $77.8 billion dollars that the state now owes towards pensions and unpaid pensions. Lawrence Msall, president of The Civic Federation, a Chicago-based group that keeps tabs on state and local government finances stated that, "...the pension underfunding has grown dramatically by almost 300 to 400 percent over the last decade, because the state has used gimmicks...it has ignored its pension obligations, it has borrowed or had partial pension holidays, and it has just flat out not made the adequate contributions to the pensions". These kinds of blatant ignorances for a state is simply appauling and not to mention widely unacceptable. Illinois has the worst track record in terms of staying on top of pension payments and meeting requirements, in many ways "shooting themselves in the foot" for future years. They are currently working on finding ways to meet the pension payments they owe, which at this point are simply growing each year. I guess the state will just have to sit back and see how the local government is going to handle this disaster.

Illinois Pension Crisis

One essential aspect of my project was to find out what the other side was saying; what those legislators hiding in the capitol buildinghad been releasing to newspapers about the situation and the state of, well, the state. I decided that researching what the press was saying was important because that was half of the driving force behind the entire pension explosion: to a certain extent, it was a he-said-she-said game. The teachers were crying that it was the state's fault and the state was pointing their fingers at the teachers and somehow through all of the yelling, there was no way to truly understand what the truth was. I went on WSJ.com, found the US tab and began looking through the impressive collection of Illinois pension articles when I came across one article titled, "Illinois Pension Crisis Eludes Easy Solutions", written by Michael Corkery. In the article, it basically summarized the entire pension problem, but its focus seemed to zero-in on what he possible solutions were to the problem aswell as what lawmakers were hoping the revisions would be. "The lawmakers are also entertaining the politicallydifficult idea of applying broader pension changes made this year for newly hired employees to current workers". This could mean that new employees would be in a position of not recieving their pensions as early as others, it could mean having to pay more into the pension fund, some new teachers may not recieve their pensions at all, and even still, many districts may have other money taken out of school budgets to make up for the state's mistakes. These potential revisions also put the future of teachers at risk because without the availability to a pension and knowing that teachers do not have access to social security because of the pension program, many students may no longer entertain the idea of becoming a teacher due to insufficient benefits. However, the problem still remains...Illinois has $82 billion unfunded pensions liability that is projected to grow to $139.8 billion in 2030. So the question is, What is the fate of the pensions?

Illinois Pension Crisis and SB7

While researching the actual legislation that is being discussed around the pension crisis in Illinois, I found a website, http://www.ieanea.org/banner/get-information-on-the-school-reform-bill-sb7-here/, that allowed me an inside look at what is actually being changed as well as what changes within the writing will help or hurt the current issue. Some of the background info of what the bill lays out is as follows:

Key Provisions of Senate Bill 7

Educators Voices Will Be Heard

From the beginning of discussions, IEA,IFT,CTU refused to give in on the subject of our

members’ collective bargaining rights,

collective bargaining in the Performance Counts proposal.

SB 7 retains teachers’ democratic right to negotiate with their employers,

despite the call for the elimination of

ensuring their professional input factors into important discussions about class size,

curriculum and other areas that impact student learning and success.

SB 7 also maintains the right to strike for both Chicago and downstate teachers.

For teachers outside of Chicago, the bill includes a provision requiring management and

labor to make their last, best offers public for 14 days after unsuccessful mediation.

Other existing strike provisions remain unchanged. For teachers in Chicago Public

Schools, the IFT and IEA were unwavering in their support of keeping CTU’s right to

strike.

Experience Counts

IEA,IFT and CTU worked hard in the face of strong opposition to ensure that

teachers’ years of experience into account in decisions about filling vacancies.

SB 7 takes

Under the bill, districts would consider numerous factors in making such decisions,

including certification, qualifications, performance and relevant experience. The definition

(criteria) of relevant experience can be bargained.

SB 7 also establishes new Reduction in Force (RIF) procedures for teachers

outside of Chicago.

Effective immediately upon passage, a complex system of “performance tiers” will be

established that:

• existing law;

First, establishes categories of teaching positions, as is currently done under

qualifications;

Second, places teachers in each category who have the required certifications and

• tiers,” which are defined based upon tenured status and varying levels of

performance ratings.

Third, places teachers in each category into one of four groups, or “performance

• The bill requires that RIF notices be sent 45 days (previously 60) before the end of the school term. In addition, it defines that qualifications can now include criteria other than legal ones, but districts have strict timelines on publishing qualifications and job descriptions for positions prior to sending RIF notices.

Finally, ranks teachers within each category by seniority.

Existing collective bargaining agreements with RIF sequence language will be grandfathered until expiration, or until June 30, 2013, whichever comes sooner.

Tenure that Ensures High-Quality Teachers Lengthy and serious discussion in this area resulted in positive changes in current tenure laws, which will take effect after PERA implementation. IEA, IFT and CTU believe these changes our best new teachers are granted tenure benefits within reasonable timeframes. will promote the integrity of the teaching profession by ensuring that

Under SB 7, the standard probationary period to obtain tenure remains four years.

To obtain tenure during a

four-year period a teacher must:

• have two “proficient” or “excellent” ratings in two of the last three years;

o a “proficient” or “excellent” rating is required in the fourth year.

IEA, IFT and CTU were able to negotiate an accelerated tenure process into SB 7

to allow exceptional new teachers the ability to achieve tenure in just three years. To obtain tenure in a each of his/her first three years. SB 7 will also provide the benefit of three-year period a teacher must receive “excellent” ratings intenure portability within Illinois districts when:

• The teacher is granted tenure in one district, and

•“Excellent.”

When either of the two criteria are met, a teacher, upon moving to a new district, will be Eligible for tenure in that district in two years with “excellent” performance. This provision will take effect after PERA implementation.

These provisions will allow teacher's rights to be heard and respected without the elimination or silencing of teachers unions. Much of the writing also included the importance of maintaining the pension system and finding other ways to solve Illinois' "Broke" state. With the help of SB7, the pension crisis may have a light at the end of the tunnel.

Illinois Pension Crisis

One of my major sources for this project is the blog by Fred Klonsky at http://preaprez.wordpress.com/page/2/. Fred is my Uncle Mike's brother and has not only been an educator for many years, but has also made it his mission to bring light to the current issue about pension in Illinois. Fred's posts have helped me because it allows me to grasp an inside look at a teacher's perspective about the issue. One of his most recent posts included details about the trip to Springfield that many teachers made in order to make a case to legislators about their proposed solutions to the pension issues. Some of Illinois most recent ideas have included raising the age that pensions can be recieved, lowering the actual amount of money that will be included in any given pension, potentially raising taxes and ultimately having citizens pay for their own pensions, and some legislators have even considered canceling pensions all together until Illinois can gain back the money that they seemingly do not have. As one may have assumed, none of these options have been sitting well with teachers. Many critics of the situation have found that blaming the teachers is the way to go and others have gone as far as to say that teachers are not as important as CEOs or leaders of Fortune 500 companies and shouldn't even be paid as much as they are currently being paid. These kinds of assumptions and closed-minded comments are what is majorly setting back the ability for us to move forward with the issue and continue finding answers. The trip to Springfield was ultimatelty a successful one and the mass group of teachers that drove down made a statement for those all around the state who are at risk of being shoved to the side at the end of the situation.