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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Spring floods come to Springfield. Dozens of anti-teacher pension bills will hit the capital. « Fred Klonsky

Spring floods come to Springfield. Dozens of anti-teacher pension bills will hit the capital. « Fred Klonsky:

Spring floods come to Springfield. Dozens of anti-teacher pension bills will hit the capital.

There hasn’t been much snow this Winter. But Springfield, Illinois is facing Spring floods.

It ain’t melting snow. It’s House and Senate bills aimed at teacher pensions.

There is the rerun of SB512. The brainchild of the Civic Committee and its President Ty Fahner, this bill would create a three-tier system, reducing benefits and increasing costs to teachers and taxpayers.

Senate President John Cullerton has been floating the idea of shifting the pension obligation to local school districts, most of which are already on financial watch lists. Few districts could afford pension costs and operational costs too. Students and teachers would foot the bill.

This morning I received news of two more bills.

The language of these bills still needs to be unraveled.