Suburban teachers have it too good

The Illinois legislative session recently ended, and the issue of public pensions was not addressed. The money the state owes to pay for these pensions leaves precious few dollars left to pay for fixing roads, paying off debt, and aiding the poor and disabled.

I’ve heard it said that pension reform would drive away good employees to the private sector. Let’s examine how that interview might go:

“Hi, I’m a suburban schoolteacher and I’m thinking of a job change. First let me tell you we’re used to making $70,000 to $90,000 with automatic pay increases. Got anything like that?”

“No, only middle managers and up make that kind of money, and there are no guaranteed increases.”

“OK, then, let’s talk working conditions. We have this thing called tenure. After about five years we’re pretty much in no matter what we do, and I’m pretty much used to working just nine months a year.”

“Nothing like that, and everybody works a full year.

“Geez, that doesn’t sound too good. All right, then, let’s talk retirement. See, we pay into our pensions, but we wind up getting a lot more back than we pay in, but that’s OK, because the taxpayers make up the difference. We can retire around 55 with a pension that’s two to three times higher than Social Security. So what about that?”#147;Most companies don#146;t even have a pension anymore, and people mostly rely on their own savings#148;

Ah, never mind. How do you people live? Jim Marks

Long Grove