WE’RE LOSING THE PUBLIC RELATIONS BATTLE
Everywhere I go in Illinois I hear people complaining about the State’s indebtedness and how much teacher pensions have contributed to the problem. Where have the teacher unions been in trying to explain to people that the deficit has nothing to do with the pensions of teachers and everything to do with the negligence of state legislators? I haven’t heard one television or radio advertisement trying to explain the situation to the average person in Illinois. I haven’t seen newspaper articles, guest editorials, or any attempt by the unions to set the record straight.
I’ve seen opinions submitted by teachers to the editorial pages in newspapers, but we need to do a lot more to win the public relations battle over this pension issue. I haven’t seen anyone explain how badly the pensions were hurt by the State’s “borrowing” from the pension fund over a period of many years. When the money was