Teacher pensions are underfunded too

by desertjim

Lucy Klocksin wrote eloquently last weeek about the lack of adequate public school funding from the state. I would like to point out that there is a continuing lack of funding for another aspect of public education. In Illinois, the legislature has chronically underfunded the Chicago and downstate teacher retirement funds.

In March, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) sued the state of Illinois, charging that the state had failed to fund Chicago teacher pensions at the same level as the downstate Teacher Retirement System (TRS). Although Chicago teachers constitute 20% of the state’s public school teachers, Chicago received only 5% of the state’s teacher pension funding. Meeting funding requirements cost CPS an additional $131 million (taken from operating funds).

The downstate teacher pension system fares little better.The current unfunded state liability for its five retirement systems was $42 billion at the start of the last legislative session. In 2006, the state had $31 billion in accounts to pay $51 billion in projected pensions. Recent borrowing from the pension funds to cover other state expenses has not imporved the situation. Currently, the state has 63% of the money needed to pay public pensions (nationwide the average is 85%).

It took generations for Illinois legislators to fall so far behind in funding teacher pensions. Teachers need to be aware of the situation, and keep track of legislative actions in the future.

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