We don’t need to be lowering standards for Illinois teachers or for students. We need to be raising standards. – Wirepoints on Fox Illinois

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Riverbender
1 year ago

The failure of the school systems is a national issue with the Illinois situation leading the pack. Thinking about it Pritzker and the bunch have, despite what they say, a continued hope that the schools continue to produce those with poor cognitive abilities, A poorly educated public that is unable to find work makes a perfect group for dependency for entitlements from the Government for living expenses and with a secondary benefit of voting strictly on emotions. A perfect voting block for the progressives. Life in Illinois marches on

Marie
1 year ago

What is there to say that hasn’t already been said? These teachers have been brainwashed by their liberal unions.
These teachers are brainwashing our children and getting paid well to do it. The governor doesn’t care about teachers, he just wants a body in a seat. The teachers don’t care about the majority of students, they just want a paycheck in hand. Politicians don’t care because they keep getting reelected. With all the constant complaints, it must mean taxpayers care. Care enough to do what?

Riverbender
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

getting paid well to do it” Great post and i wish there were a way to upvote it more than once.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

In many districts, the education complex believes it’s found a winning formula with the indoctrination on leftist values. Especially the younger teachers, they’re 100% communist. Kids ‘learn’, students ‘graduate’, and teachers can talk about sex with children instead of teaching the 3R’s. Win-win for everyone, from their perspective.

Old Joe
1 year ago

Ted, there’s nothing wrong with Illinois public education that 25,000 nuns couldn’t fix!

Marie
1 year ago
Reply to  Old Joe

What’s the matter, -1, can’t handle the teutg?

Marie
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

Bring some “friends” with you this time? What’s the matter, none of you can handle the truth?

jajujon
1 year ago

Wait a minute. We’re paying nearly $30,000 per Illinois student, one of the highest rates in the country, and we are suddenly in a crisis? The IEA report suggests we may have to lower standards to attract more people to the teaching profession and we should fund higher pensions and student loan forgiveness. How about we shake out the waste, corruption, bureaucracy and mismanagement, THEN enhance teacher compensation? What a completely broken and corrupt system . . .

Aaron
1 year ago
Reply to  jajujon

Yes, not going broke fast enough, not brainwashing as thoroughly as necessary, some students can read . . .etc. build back better folks.

Marie
1 year ago
Reply to  jajujon

What’s the matter, -1, can’t handle the truth?

Platinum Goose
1 year ago
Reply to  jajujon

Unfortunately you need to raise the retirement age to help solve the teacher shortage but as we all know we can’t do that. Maybe enhance compensation if they work for more years, this keeps them out of the pension system and you have a warm body in the classroom.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Platinum Goose

It won’t be very effective if you only offer to enhance their pay and not allow them to take their pension. A maxed out pension pays out at 75%. Who wants to work the same job for only a 25% increase. No, if you want teachers to keep working you will need to up the number of days they are allowed to work and still keep their pension. Even then, what school district would want to keep a 35 year teacher on the payroll that costs them 2-3 times what a brand new teacher out of college costs.

Riverbender
1 year ago

I might be wrong on this but I think the tier two folks are unable to take their pensions until the age of the claimant is in their 60s. My district used to give early retirement saying that newer teachers cost less in salary and since the pension burden is passed to the State they do not have to be concerned with the pension costs. The voters here loved the idea not being able to understand the concept be it State or local the the taxpayers are on the hook for all taxes. Many of these voters maybe products be… Read more »

$200,000 Pension Couples
1 year ago
Reply to  Riverbender

Yep, the old “twenty and twenty.” Twenty percent raises each of the final two years of employment. Screw the taxpayers. Any readers in the private sector ever get a 20% raise while responsibilities remained constant?

debtsor
1 year ago

Yes, this happens in various manners. The first is something similar called called a golden parachute, where a company fails but the C-Suite gets massive severance packages. For example, similiarly to a golden parachute, the CEO of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank $3.6 in stock on February 27, and 11 days later, the FDIC took over the bank. He got $3,600,000 selling stock of a failing bank while the uninsured depositors get pennies on the dollar! There’s also the bankruptcy retention bonuses, where a company goes bankrupt, but then pays the C-Suite – the same people who made the poor… Read more »

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

Golden parachutes exist, as you described, but certainly not for the average employee. Any teacher can get the sweetheart deal $200,000 Pension Couples described. Golden parachutes for everyone- the taxpayers are buying!

$200,000 Pension Couples
1 year ago

I’m not offended at all by the down vote, but I’m just saying that I knew teachers in the Orland/Tinley area and they talked openly about it. They truly believed it was a break for the taxpayers to replace them with new hires. What they didn’t think of was that taxpayers throughout the state would be paying their spiked pensions for the next thirty years.

James
1 year ago

I think there was a an IL law that still may apply where any school employee receiving a final-year salary in excess of 6% requires the school district to pay the state the extra cost of that extra retirement benefit as a penalty. That was the case several years ago as I recall it at least. Then, my memory on that is rusty, and the penalty may be different these days.

James
1 year ago
Reply to  James

I should have said “salary increase,” of course.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  James

The “penalty” (really just the costs to cover the pension increase) threshold when introduced was at 6% (2005), then lowered to 3% (2018), and right after JB’s first election was moved back to 6%.

Last edited 1 year ago by Pensions Paid First
$200,000 Pension Couples
1 year ago

Thank you for the clarification.

James
1 year ago

If that extra “contribution” by the local school district applies only to the employee’s last year’s salary increase as I stated, there is no such similar charge locally for any such raise where that was applicable for three prior years in the example given, right? In that case the state IL takes on that portion of the extra pension increase which amounts to roughly 3/4 of the total extra pension costs. Or, does it cover anything beyond 6% for each of those last four years?

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  James

Any raise in excess of 6% during the years that are used to calculate the pension (top 4 of last 8 years for tier 1) will be used to determine the “penalty”. So calculate what the pension costs would be for 6% raises in the last 4 years vs what the actual costs is for the pension with the employees actual wage increases during that time. That difference is the amount the local district must pay.

So the increased cost or “penalty” covers all 4 years not just the last one.

James
1 year ago

Thanks. That seems the logical way to go about it.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  James

James, welcome back. But I have to say that you are going into the weeds here, when the point is that some group of taxpayers is paying for a sweetheart deal for the teacher. Does it really matter which group pays what %? The teacher is still getting a large bump at taxpayer expense.

James
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Well, that’s your take on it, and you are free to see it that way. Others may well rail at the thought of the local school district being required to pay the full actuarially determined extra pension cost to the state when such retirees final four salary years or any part of them also exceed 6% of the otherwise-normal salaries of non-retiring similarly-aged teachers.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  James

The solution is to not give these pre-retirement salary increases, which are clearly intended to increase the pension payout. Then nobody has to worry about shifting the tax burden around.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Right now the current salary increases with inflation is around 5% for most of these contracts. Is your proposal that people no longer get raises when they get close to retirement? Not much of a solution.

Mike
1 year ago

Ponzi Scheme Pensions Paid First,

What is your source of information for, “Right now the current salary increases with inflation is around 5% for most of these contracts.”

ProzacPlease
1 year ago

I’m told inflation is “transitory”. A pension payment is permanent. Deal with it, just like everyone else.

If education workers don’t like it, maybe next time don’t give 95% of your political contributions to octogenarians who say they can give everything to everyone with no repercussions.

Last edited 1 year ago by ProzacPlease
James
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

I doubt the effects of inflationary are ever “transitory.” Last year, for example, my lawn service raised its rates roughly 15%. Do I believe they will now reduce that even a little as the basis for telling me the charge due this year and in the near future beyond as well? That’s a big “no”. Once a labor rate is raised its nearly always baked in as the basis for further raises in the future.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  James

I agree James. The “transitory” characterization was always nonsense. I tried to be tongue-in-cheek by putting it in quotation marks. As I said, we all have to deal with it. Educators should not be exempt.

Last edited 1 year ago by ProzacPlease
debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  James

“That’s a big “no”.” It’s a not likely, but not a no. When this massive everything bubble 2.0 pops, and it is clearly in the beginning stages, debt defaults are deflationary, as all those Yellen and Powell bucks get their wings and fly off to deflationary heaven. Your lawn guy might not raise his rates, but you’ll find a cheaper lawn service. This is not unusual for deflation. There have been several deflationary periods in U.S. history, including between 1815 and 1860, and again between 1865 to 1900, and most famously, 1930-1933. Japan’s big bubble burst and they had deflation… Read more »

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Deal with it, just like everyone else.”

Or. Now hear me out. Or. Education workers will exercise their constitutional right and collectively bargain for increased wages. Costs have increased and public employees will be demanding more in their pay checks and will ultimately get it. Taxpayers will just have to “deal with it”.

If voters don’t like it, maybe next time they won’t add constitutional guarantees to collectively bargain.

Mike
1 year ago

Ponzi Scheme Pensions Paid First,

Again, what is your source of information for, “Right now the current salary increases with inflation is around 5% for most of these contracts.”

ProzacPlease
1 year ago

Thought we were talking about specific increases to certain employees in the last couple of years before retirement? Is that covered by collective bargaining?

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Yes it is. Contracts are negotiated for all members including the ones approaching retirement. Now some contracts provide for a 6% increase the last 3 years before retirement if a teacher declares that they are retiring otherwise their pay is dictated by the the actual contract for everyone. So even if you took away the 6% path of the contract, the employee approaching retirement would still be eligible for any raises negotiated in the standard contract. A few recent contracts I’ve read show that could be around 5%. I know Glenview, Hinsdale, and one of the Naperville school districts that… Read more »

Mike
1 year ago

Ponzi Scheme Pensions Paid First, Third time. What is your source of information for, “Right now the current salary increases with inflation is around 5% for most of these contracts.”. Above you cited three districts. “A few recent contracts I’ve read show that could be around 5%. I know Glenview, Hinsdale, and one of the Naperville school districts that are using CPI language in their future years salaries for their contracts. Naperville’s was around 5%. Hinsdale was 4.25% with future years having built in increases of 75% of CPI. Currently that would be around 4.8%. I don’t remember Glenview’s details… Read more »

ProzacPlease
1 year ago

PPF, thanks for the information. It explains why teacher unions give 95% of their political contributions to candidates that spout destructive nonsense. The unions have already made sure to insulate themselves from the consequences of their ideas. All upside, no downside for them.

One could almost say that the unions are running the most sophisticated scam in history.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

So teachers getting a raise in pay during high inflation is a scam.

One could say that during inflation, labor will costs you more than it did before. You’re an infant prozac. Maybe double up your dose.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago

Really PPF? Well, if that’s where you want to go, then I guess the only appropriate response is “I know you are but what am I?”. SMH

debtsor
1 year ago

Most teachers don’t like striking because they struggle financially after missing that first paycheck. Sure, they have a constitutional right to collectively bargain, but teachers have mostly outworn their welcome in this new age of the school board culture wars. Insane demands might gain traction in Chicago but will likely fail elsewhere. Public opinion of wokism among teachers is dropping fast with only 64% of the public viewing teachers favorably, the lowest ever. Statewide, there’s a new paradigm and parents might be able to wait out teachers’ unreasonable demands longer than teachers can go without a paycheck. Raises for inflation… Read more »

Gallup-Teachers-judges-among-those-to-hit-new-lows-with-image-ratings[1].jpg
Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

Yet they continue to negotiate fair contracts without striking and that includes raises that I’ve mentioned. Seems odd that a group of people that have worn out their welcome are getting these raises when as you’ve noted, they are unable to weather a strike because they live paycheck to paycheck.

You would think these boards wouldn’t cave into their demands. Then again, maybe your assessment of the public view of teachers is skewed by your own bias and hatred.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago

Also, we are talking about monetary increases to contracts that cause pension costs to rise. No one was talking about housing but you.

debtsor
1 year ago

No, it was the CTU that demanded affordable housing in the 2019 strike:

https://truthout.org/articles/chicago-teachers-demand-affordable-housing-as-strike-begins/

Per Amendment 1, teachers now have a constitutional right to demand whatever they want.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

I am referring to this discussion debtsor. You keep trying to change the subject to what you want to discuss not what others are talking about.

You’re the one that brought it up right now. Referring to 2019 when it wasn’t part of the discussion is crazy.

debtsor
1 year ago

Pension costs rising because of Brandonomics. Inflation is built into Brandon’s economic policy. There’s noting any of us can do about it. Cost of living increases during high inflationary periods is a necessary evil, but, it will likely be paired with layoffs and cost savings measures. Sorry DIE consultants, your job gets cut first!

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

it will likely be paired with layoffs and cost savings measures.”

I hope you’re right. I have serious doubts.

debtsor
1 year ago

I doubt English, Science and Math teachers will be in the dole line but boards will need to make tough decisions about those layers of management. School boards elections are more competitive then ever now, think there was an article here on WP linking to it. My local high school district pays millions in salaries for various assistant superintendents, I’m not even sure what they’re doing, although I know one is superintendent is trying to swap out Shakespeare for Ibram X. Kendi, to the ire of parents in the community. I’m sure that Loser can find a job walking a… Read more »

debtsor
1 year ago

Maybe some unions they’ll negotiate for smaller cost of living raises because the alternative from a conservative school board would be next to nothing. I know in my community, a teachers strike would likely bring the ire of parents who already show up at school boards screaming at administrators. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-cps-ctu-strike-financial-struggle-20191025-bm6koucynncl5i6lqtmv5zsc6i-story.html CPS teachers just got their last pre-strike paycheck. Here’s how they plan to get by. Adam Loredo, a middle school English teacher at Hamilton Elementary, said he’s been saving “voraciously” since last year to prepare for a possible strike. “Right now I’m living frugally and trying to use our savings… Read more »

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

Burlington district 301 is getting 10.7% raise in its first year of their new contract. Followed by annual 4.6% raises for years 2 and 3. I’m glad they decided to negotiate smaller costs of living increases.

Mike
1 year ago

Ponzi Scheme Pensions Paid First has not responded after three inquiries regarding the sources of the comment, “Right now the current salary increases with inflation is around 5% for most of these contracts.”

But Ponzi Scheme Pensions Paid First has identified a fourth district, Burlington District 301.

That would be 1/2 of 1% of the approximately 852 government school districts in Illinois.

https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/List_of_school_districts_in_Illinois

Poor Taxpayer
1 year ago

Ted is spot on, but that is what they are going to do. Things will get worse for a long time to come. The trend is set and difficult to turn around.

Marie
1 year ago
Reply to  Poor Taxpayer

What’s the matter, -1, can’t handle the truth?

ISU
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

I have always been curious about the rigor of education programs. My late father was an Illinois State PE major, and my impression was that he did incredibly little work. He had no attention span, and was kicked out of two athletic factory schools before Illinois State. He didn’t like to acknowledge that he went there, but I thought it a great thing that they took a chance on him. His transgressions at prior schools were significant. He didn’t stick around as a father for the long haul, but it was a home without books and without intellectual stimulation. My… Read more »

Admin
1 year ago
Reply to  ISU

ISU, regarding the ease of memorizing the repetitive prose, you can also use one of the handy automatic BS generators, like this one:http://www.janavirgin.com/IFAPA/SOCIAL_INNOVATION/

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A statewide concern: Illinois’ population decline outpaces neighboring states – Wirepoints on ABC20 Champaign

“We are not in good shape” Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski told ABC 20 Champaign during a segment on Illinois’ latest population losses. Illinois was one of just three states to shrink in the 2010-2020 period and has lost another 300,000 people since then. Ted says things need to change. “It’s too expensive to live here, there aren’t enough good jobs and nobody trusts the government anymore. There’s just other places to go where you can be more satisfied.”

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