Underfunding of pensions real issue

The vast majority of teacher pensions are far less than the excessive pensions received by school administrators.

Many teachers do not have a full pension and receive less than %40,000. Circumstances such as ill health or reductions in force make it so that teachers do not receive a full pension. I am barely making it on my reduced pension of about $35,000 and $600 in Social Security. Often, I put in many more hours of work on my own time and money out of my pocket to provide a quality education for my students.

The real story with the pension crisis in Illinois is that the legislature did not do its job and annually properly fund the pensions and now has penalized future teachers with reduced pensions because of their own poor legislating and no fault of the teachers themselves.

The teachers unions exist to protect the teachers, who are often little people, against arbitrary treatment by administrators. These unions would not exist if teachers in the past were treated fairly, which was not the case.

Stewart Brekke

Downers Grove