ILLINOIS RETIRED TEACHERS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION
The Chicago Tribune, certain business leaders, anti union forces, and groups like ‘Illinois is Broke”, have done an amazing job at convincing the public that retired teachers and other retired public employees are bankrupting the State of Illinois by getting incredibly lucrative pensions.
I recently had three instances where I was with a group of people who were discussing political issues. These people didn’t know I was a retired teacher and the conversations turned to Illinois’ “pension problem”. There were people in each of the three groups who thought lucrative pensions of public employees and especially teachers were almost solely responsible for the State’s dire financial condition. In each instance I mentioned how much my yearly pension was and also what the average teacher’s pension was in Illinois. When the people heard my pension numbers, they sheepishly changed the subject.
Retired teachers and even working teachers of Illinois, we have a serious perception problem. We are losing this
I recently had three instances where I was with a group of people who were discussing political issues. These people didn’t know I was a retired teacher and the conversations turned to Illinois’ “pension problem”. There were people in each of the three groups who thought lucrative pensions of public employees and especially teachers were almost solely responsible for the State’s dire financial condition. In each instance I mentioned how much my yearly pension was and also what the average teacher’s pension was in Illinois. When the people heard my pension numbers, they sheepishly changed the subject.
Retired teachers and even working teachers of Illinois, we have a serious perception problem. We are losing this