Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, December 23, 2013

12-23-13 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.:







Ford CEO Alan Mulally. Stealing gold fillings from the mouths on pensioners.
  Ford CEO, Alan Mulally. Every time a Ford employee receives their paycheck and looks at the state income tax deduction, they probably don’t know that those dollars are going into the pocket (figuratively) of FORD CEO Alan Mulally. Because of tax credits by the pension busting Illinois General Assembly Ford is one of nine giant corporations that get to keep the state income tax they collect from


Nine Illinois corporations get to collect employee income taxes and keep what they collect.
  Crain’s graphic. Hyde Park Democrat Barbara Flynn Currie blames retirees for the pension crisis. We agreed to a benefit and then when she and her House colleagues didn’t pay the bill, we didn’t vote her out of office. Maybe she has a point. Here’s another reason to throw her out of the House. Nine Illinois Corporations get to collect – through payroll deduction – employee income taxes. And they


Pension thieves.
  Illinois Democrat Barbara Flynn Currie represents Hyde Park in the Illinois House. In explaining her vote to cut pensions she wrote to her constituents, “How did we find ourselves in this pickle?  Years of inaction by Governors and lawmakers of both parties, the worst recession in recent memory, and a willingness on the part of labor to accept benefit enhancements without demanding that the sta

Now that’s a pension. John Watson of Chevron.
  John Watson, CEO of Chevron oil. “The world is upside down. The lead article shows that CEOs now make 200 times what the average worker makes as opposed to the old days when it was 18 times. And our pensions are exorbitant?” writes Gary Elmen of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. He sends along this link. >2012 value: $6 million pension >CEO: John Watson >Company: Chevron John Watson be

The Illinois Charter Commission. The incestuous Michael Madigan.
  Here’s how the Illinois Charter Commission works: If a private group gets turned down by a local school board in an attempt to establish a charter school, they can appeal to the Commission. If the Commission gives a thumb’s up, that decision trumps the local school board. But the local citizens foot the bill. Illinois democracy at its best. Who created the Commission? Democratic Party Chairman


12-22-13 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.: Sunday reads. Think globally. Give locally.  Retired teacher and blogger John Dillon has a great post on the impact of corporate giving during the holidays and the rest of the year. Here’s a partial list of the 24 corporate Samaritans, and I’ll just highlight the companies with membership in the Civic