Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, May 26, 2012

The in box. “The bill could and should be defeated.” « Fred Klonsky

The in box. “The bill could and should be defeated.” « Fred Klonsky:


The in box. “The bill could and should be defeated.”

Bob Lyons is a member of the TRS Board of Trustees.
“Putting Aside the Constitution” was how one of the Democrat leaders was able to justify what legislators plan to do next. She may have forgotten that to “uphold and protect” that very same document was in her oath of office.
…Andrew Bodewes, TRS legislative liaison, who serves the same role for the Illinois Teachers Retired Association (IRTA), reported to the TRS Board on the content of the so-far unnumbered bill that will reduce the costs of the existing pension systems of the State of Illinois. As some of us may know, Bodewes is considered an expert on pension law and once served in that role for the House Democratic staff. What he described to us was the bill, as it was written, [also affected retirees].

Between January 1 of 2013 and June 30, current retired teachers would be required to make an irrevocable choice between keeping their existing benefit of an automatic compounded three-percent increase [Cost-of-Living-Adjustment] in return for giving up their access to state provided