Teacher unions must change their demands

In the Daily Herald article "Education unions call for a tax increase" (May 14) Mr. Steve Preckwinkle of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) was quoted as criticizing state lawmakers for not passing a "responsible budget" that would include a tax increase to prevent further teacher layoffs. Yet Illinois has 15 retired administrators that are collecting pensions ranging from $116,376 to $175,182 (Daily Herald, April 24).

Particularly ironic is that the current president of the IFT, Mr. Ed Geppert, is on top of this list currently collecting an annual state pension of $175,182. Both union leaders and school boards support the reckless practice of maximizing members' salaries in the few years before their retirement so they can maximize their pensions. This practice has resulted in a disproportionate increase in pensions. Thirty years ago TRS paid out $499 million (in 2009 dollars) that covered 30,530 retirees. In 2009 TRS paid out $3.6 billion that covered 84,510 retirees.

While the number of retirees increased by 277 percent the pensions increased by 721 percent.

Both union leaders and school boards realized that there was no oversight on salary increases in the years just before an individual's retirement. As long as the district could meet these increases within their budgets they granted them. However, the individual districts are not responsible for pensions - all of the state's citizens pay for them regardless of district. So once an individual retired, the district merely passed on the bloated pension to the state - the same state that they complain is not meeting their financial obligations to prevent future teacher layoffs.

Teachers certainly deserve a decent pension. But our education leaders have decided to recklessly max out their members six-figure pensions. They need to stop this reckless behavior and become part of the solution instead of being part of the problem.

Ken Hofrichter

Elk Grove Village