SB2404. The red coats are coming. The red coats are coming.
Graphic: Chicago Reader. From the article: Blogger Fred Klonsky’s Crusade Against Education Reform.
Back in 2011 the Chicago Reader’s Ben Joravsky dubbed me the Paul Revere of the school blogging world.
With all due modesty, it was true.
As Illinois’ Senate Bill 7 was making its way through the Illinois General Assembly, with the support of both of the state teacher unions’ leadership, I warned, “The reformers are coming. The reformers are coming.”
I’m back.
The pension killers are coming.
The unions’ seat at the table could cost a retiree over $100,000 dollars. This is supposed to help pay the cost of
The in box. Dear Cinda. The PREA regrets to inform you.
Dear Cinda,
The Park Ridge Education Association regrets to inform you that our local has cancelled our plans for participation in IEA Lobby Day this Wednesday. The PREA is opposed to SB2404 and this bill does not represent the interests of our members. We wish to express our disappointment in the leadership for negotiating an agreement to our constitutionally protected pension benefit in which our members’ opinions were not asked for and for which we were not given the opportunity to vote.
Sincerely,
Jerry Mulvihill
PREA Political Action Chair
Scrap the MAP. The power of no.
We received news yesterday that the Seattle school district has agreed to scrap the MAP test next year.
It s a powerful win for common sense.
Teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School made national news earlier this year when they refused to administer the MAP test.
The Seattle Times reports:
The protesting teachers, who number in the hundreds at six different schools, say the MAP tests have little value for them or their students, monopolize school libraries and computer labs for weeks, and aren’t closely tied to what they’re supposed to be teaching.
The majority stress that they’re not against testing per se, just the MAP.
Parents and students joined in, and 600 students did not take the MAP because they or their parents asked that they be excused. Spring testing is still under way.
Despite the protest, schools are still giving the tests by using administrators or parents or others
The in box. “What would stop the state from revisiting this in the future?”
Fred,
The pension protection clause contained in the 1970 Constitution served to eliminate any uncertainty as to whether state and local governments were obligated to pay pension benefits to their employees. The plain language of the pension protection clause makes participation in a public pension plan an enforceable contractual relationship and also demands that the “benefits” of that relationship “shall not be diminished or impaired.” Ill. Const.1970, art. XIII, § 5. This court has held that the contractual relationship is governed by the actual terms of the Pension Code at the time the employee becomes a member of the pension system. Di Falco v. Board of Trustees of the Firemen’s Pension Fund of the Wood Dale Fire Protection District No. One,122 Ill.2d 22, 26, 118 Ill.Dec. 446, 521 N.E.2d 923 (1988); Kerner v. State Employees’ Retirement System,72 Ill.2d 507, 514, 21 Ill.Dec. 879, 382 N.E.2d 243 (1978).
Defendants argue that the appellate court erred in construing the pension protection clause as a means to create a contractual right to force the appropriation of monies to fulfill the statutory funding obligations in the Pension
The in box. What SB2404 will cost a retiree. What it will cost the state.
There is still much that is not explained about the provisions of SB2404.
Choice A for retirees calls for a two-year (non-consecutive years) COLA freeze.
I suppose that if you knew when that was, the best two years to pick would be your last two years.
Otherwise, the best would be the earliest two. But many teachers who retire before they are 61 already must wait until their COLA kicks in.
In any case, we (and by “we” I mean my Skokie IEA Retired colleague, Gerry Berkowitz) did a calculation of the cost to the TRS retiree who opts for Choice A.
Choice A for retirees calls for a two-year (non-consecutive years) COLA freeze.
I suppose that if you knew when that was, the best two years to pick would be your last two years.
Otherwise, the best would be the earliest two. But many teachers who retire before they are 61 already must wait until their COLA kicks in.
In any case, we (and by “we” I mean my Skokie IEA Retired colleague, Gerry Berkowitz) did a calculation of the cost to the TRS retiree who opts for Choice A.
