Ted was on with Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson this week discussing how politicians want everyone to ignore their COVID mistakes of the past two years, the legal corruption infecting CPS and Illinois in general and how educators across the state continue to double-dip on salaries and pensions. All of that cost residents dearly.
*Title image created by Peyri Herrera
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Gov. Pritzker should cut Illinois’ state gasoline taxes. They’re up over 100 percent since he took office.
- Five reasons why Gov. Pritzker’s gas tax “relief” isn’t relief at all
- Another pension sweetener? State lawmaker proposes a week of paid mental health leave for teachers
- Illinois used to have one competitive advantage over its neighbors: its flat tax. Now that’s largely gone
- This is our best moment to draw a line between reformers and anti-reformers
- Gov. Pritzker can’t take credit for Illinois’ improved budget projections when it’s the feds that bailed the state out
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Of course we know why its wrong…public unions differ from private unions. Private unions are needed cause if a worker asks for five cents more, management will push back hard cause profit is king. In the public sector, there is no such offset. In fact, public employees have massive incentives to give public unions everything they want, at the expense of joe six pack. i.e. Illinois “woodle” game: see if you get the right answer Person A is a state representative, and the teachers, firefighters, police, etc unions want a massive pension and salary increase. Its Friday afternoon in Chicago,… Read more »
i am confused as to why “double dipping,” i.e. drawing a salary and collecting a pension at the same time, is wrong for government employees but not for private sector employees. Federal law allows for in-service withdrawals from defined contribution retirement plans once an employee reaches age 59 and 1/2. I work at a private university, and I, along with many of my colleagues, have made such withdrawals and it has never been an issue. And yes, we are withdrawing employer contributions in part, because my university contributes 10% of salary each year to the 403b plan if an employee… Read more »
I think it is because, at least for those who do not have most of their compensation subject to Social Security, we think of a good portion of the pension (2/3) as the equivalent to social security for that employee. People who take social security prior to the full retirement age (65-67 years old) are subject to dollar to dollar reduction after earning more than a modest income outside social security.
Illinois Amendment 1 will be on the ballot in November 22. This is another reason why allowing it to pass into law would be detrimental to Illinois. Please read it and get ready for it. Unions are already strangling Illinois this will be the last nail in the coffin. Don’t let these people get anywhere near changing the Illinois State Constitution, that is what they want to do. When that happens we will never be able to stop them, they will have all the power and you’re going to need a moving van.
It’s most egregious with administrators. In some of these districts they can’t keep teachers so they need people to work. Let’s be honest. The kids are so empowered and their behavior and motivation is so challenging that most people can’t stick it out. Look at the stats. Teachers are really caught in the middle. Parents on one end who spoil and Coddle their children, or just ignore them and let the internet raise them, and feckless administrators who cave to pushback because they don’t want to lose their jobs. As a result, we have no discipline and low academic standards.… Read more »
Return to work has long been a situation where pension benefits are suspended. In statewide teacher pension plans, return to work within the state has caused pensions to be stopped, with the possibility of additional service adding to the pension when it restarted. This has been a sound actuarial principle for decades. Limited exceptions have been allowed when specific types of teachers have been hard to find — mostly in math and the sciences. It was still possible for a teacher or administrator to move out of the state and get a new job while continuing the pension earned in… Read more »
The rules you’ve stated only make sense when the available job applicant pool is adequate, and for certain types of employment that’s not always the case. Thus, we have changes made to those rules as such times require.
I think this overplays the supply and demand argument. Chicago can make its schools so bad that nobody wants to teach there. Would you argue that taxpayers should pay more and/or lower standards [that is, do anything] until classrooms are filled with teachers? If so, who should pay for this? A lot depends on the definition of “essential.” The constitution establishes public education as a fairly high priority — but we seem hung up on the issue whether that should extend beyond grade 12. I read that 60- & 70-year-old Ukranian me are answering the call to arms. Protection of… Read more »
I’m not in charge of IL, so little I can’t solve its problems. In regards to the tax dollars spent for education I think the reality is that the law of diminishing returns is well applied there. What I mean is that I think most lower-level elementary students are likely positive, happy participants in their education. Then, maybe around grade 5-6 or so that all starts to sour for a few of them. By age 10 that number of lesser-participating students has probably doubled at least. It degrades from there to the point of graduation where for at least 1/3… Read more »
Perhaps you and I could solve or narrow some of the problems even though neither of us has either power or responsibility to do so. I agree almost 100% with the concept of tracking students based on their competence and commitment. I might start it a little earlier because the fundamentals of reading and math need to be grasped as a foundation for what comes after. There should always be on-ramps for late bloomers and perhaps a 2nd chance for disrupters. The effectiveness of both schools and libraries have been limited by imposing other public tasks on them. Schools are… Read more »
I’m all for teaching the “basics” and slicing away at the rest. If the first can be truly done effectively, there’s hope for the rest being selected by such students later. But, as you’ve suggested, some subjects are so progressive in nature that later progress is next-to-impossible if the background preparation has numerous deficiencies. I’m thinking mostly about STEM classes here, but it applies in other cases as well such as when a foreign language is taken for multiple years. A student who has a “C” course grade in a preparatory class has little-to-no chance of succeeding in the next… Read more »
I think the original fallacy is that formerly respectable credentials are unearned or phony. That belief has led to people getting medical and law degrees whom I would never consult on a professional matter. At a different stratum, the same goes for a H.S. diploma. Somehow, we cure a social ill by making sure late teens all have the right piece of paper and that that will level the playing field. The result is societal confusion and an open door to charlatans. At some point this has the potential of becoming dangerous. What 3-star general should one listen to? What… Read more »
PT Bombast, that is so well said, and it is such an important development. We’ve all learned much lately about how full of shit so many experts are. Looking for those fundamental principles that have stood the test of time is part of the solution.
Mark-Don’t forget that an “Expert” is always someone from out of town as it is so true here in Rockford. Example. People Who Care desegregation lawsuit against the Rockford school district cost taxpayers over $250M with a legal firm based in Chicago. Hinshaw&Culbertson have an office in Rockford but headquartered in Chicago negotiate most if not all school contracts of course without any public scrutiny. The new Embassy Suites project by Wisconsin based Gorman and Company and built “The Grove” a public housing project on the East side of Rockford. So called “Experts were brought in from Colorado for the… Read more »
Still legal in Illinois. In Wisconsin then Gov. Walker/lawmakers changed the rules so if you retire from the public sector and want to go back to work even in the same position you must suspend your pension. This was for new retirees after the law went into effect. There were approx 8,000 who were grandfathered in and did not have to suspend their pension. In the trades if I’m not mistaken if you collect a pension and go back to work you must suspend it and also work in a union shop for the same type of job. Not 100%… Read more »