Retirement enhancements don't put students first

In the May 30 edition of the Daily Herald, there is an article titled "Schools chiefs to urge state lawmakers Wednesday to end budget impasse." The article highlights a statement made by Tony Sanders. As the CEO of school district U-46, Mr. Sanders is leading the charge to get the state's lawmakers to pass a budget.

Mr. Sanders states: "Enough is enough. Your (state's lawmakers) primary responsibility is to develop and pass a state budget. It is time to put aside politics and partisan differences and put students first."

The article goes on to state that "U-46, the state's second-largest school district, is owed $18.5 million in mandated categorical payments for the school year now coming to a close, officials said." Yet, according to the U-46 website this district paid out a staggering $16.2 million in "retirement enhancements" to their teachers and administrators in 2016.

So the U-46 district board and district management, which Mr. Sanders is obviously part of, approved doling out $16.2 million of their district taxpayers' money for these wasteful retirement enhancements. And this in a district where 57.8 percent of their students come from low-income families (according to the Illinois Interactive Report Card). So now Mr. Sanders has the nerve to complain that all of the state's taxpayers owe district U-46 $18.5 million.

However, Mr. Sanders does make a point when he stated "Enough is enough." Yes, enough is enough of our school districts' wasteful spending on these retirement enhancements that do absolutely nothing to improve the education of students and certainly do not put students first.

Ken Hofrichter

Elk Grove Village