Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, October 4, 2013

10-4-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:







Responding to protests, CMS/HMS push back cleansing deadline to December 6th.
As a result of protest from across the state, including to and from this blog, the Illinois Central Management System – which manages the Teachers Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP) – has pushed back the deadline for submitting dependent eligibility information. This is a partial but significant win. Under the original rules, TRIP members claiming dependent coverage were being asked to submit a b

Are they a think-tank or a dunk-tank. Illinois Policy Institute considers failure a success when it comes to pension cleansing.
From WICS Channel 20: Director of Health Policy at the Illinois Policy Institute, Naomi Lopez-Bauman, said the audit is a reasonable way to ensure taxpayer money isn’t being misspent. As to the problems of getting ahold of tax return transcripts, she said she looked on the I.R.S. website “and it turns out that even though there is a government shutdown, they’re still able to order transcripts, and

The in box. They are looking for a pro-teacher candidate in the Illinois 37th House district.
  Pension bomber Renee Kosel is quitting the Illinois House. From IEA Region 28. Rep. Renee Kosel has decided to retire and is not running for re-election in the 37th District.  The district includes all or parts of Frankfort, Homer Glen, Homer Township, Joliet, Mokena, New Lenox, Orland Park and Tinley Park. This is good news for IEA members. She voted in favor of SB1 and has consistently voted

Illinois’ retirees have to look out for each other.
In trying to unravel the situation with Central Management Services and HMS, the company they hired to cleanse the TRIP rolls of alleged dead beats, I have come to believe this: We have to look out for each other. I have talked to many attorneys about legal options. They have varied opinions. That’s why I love lawyers. Neither the lawyers no I believe that deadbeats ought to be allowed to claim de


CMS is paying nearly $700,000 for HMS to “cleanse the state’s insurance rolls.”
While I have a FOIA request to get hold of the contracts between Central Management Services and HMS, The Pentagraph is reporting that CMS is paying nearly $700,000 for cleansing the insurance roles. HMS promises clients that they can reduce those on their roles by four to eight percent. In an attempt to cleanse the state’s insurance roles, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services si

Guzzardi leads in the race against incumbent Democratic Machine pension-bomber.
It is early and the candidates haven’t even officially filed yet. But when the daughter of Machine Boss and Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios voted with Speaker Mike Madigan for the public employee pension-busting Senate Bill 1 it angered many public employees who live in the House district on Chicago’s northside. The Ward Room: The 2012 race for Illinois 39th District was one of the tightest con

10-3-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: What is the purpose of the state auditing every Illinois retired teacher on TRIP?  FOIA I filed for all CMS and HMS contracts. What is the purpose of the data dredging audit that Central Management Services (CMS) has hired HMS to do? I posted about this yesterday. My post came after the letter HMS sen