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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The pension cost shift. « Fred Klonsky

The pension cost shift. « Fred Klonsky:


The pension cost shift.

For some strange reason known only to Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, he decided to try and explain how Chicago Public Schools are overfunded.
Answers to the paralyzing questions about school funding fairness.
It’s an argument too stupid to even get started on. But at the end of his blog post, Zorn mentions the pension cost swap in passing.
This is a topic worth addressing.
The pension cost swap is Mike Madigan’s idea. The state owes the Teacher Retirement System maybe $80 billion dollars. Maybe more.
Why?
Because for over fifty years the state either hasn’t paid what they owed or used TRS funds to build bridges,