Dist. 73 personnel want pension solution
As public school employees, the teachers, administrators and education support personnel of Hawthorn School District 73 need and deserve a stable and reliable source of retirement income. We have serious concerns about attempts under way in the Illinois legislature to diminish our pensions under the guise of pension reform.
As legislators consider pension reform in the coming weeks, we ask them to keep in mind several important facts.
Ÿ Teachers do not pay into nor do they receive Social Security.
Ÿ Benefits received by members of the Teachers Retirement System repeatedly have been found to be in the mainstream nationally. The average statewide TRS monthly annuity after 29 years of teaching is $3,565.
Ÿ The Illinois Constitution protects the pension benefit rights contained in the Illinois Pension Code.
Ÿ Teachers have always made their required contribution to TRS. In fact, the current teacher contribution of 9.4 percent of salary is among the highest in the nation.
Ÿ The sole cause of the current underfunding is the failure of the state to make its required contributions. Moreover, employee contributions and earnings on assets, not the state, pay the lion’s share of the costs.
Teacher’s pensions did not cause the current budget deficit and diminishing pension benefits will do nothing to solve the problem. TRS has carried an unfunded liability since 1953 and always paid retirees on time. We ask that legislators find a way to get the state to make its required contributions and bring pensions up to their required funding levels.
We are well aware of the pension abuses that are fueling the current attack on our pensions. For the most part, these abusers are political insiders and cronies who use their political connections to double- and triple-dip pensions and artificially inflate final salaries to increase their benefits. We support any efforts to attack cronyism and prosecute pension abusers. But please support teachers and protect our pensions.
Conrad Floeter, on behalf of teachers, administrators and support personnel in District 73, Vernon Hills