All pensions come out of our pockets

I am a child, an employee, a mortgage holder, a parent, and a public schoolteacher.

I became each of those in that order during my life. I am not young, technically a senior citizen. I hold multiple advanced degrees and I make a good salary, but I work hard for it. I work nights, weekends, and many weeks during the summer.

I am like most teachers I know.

I am a second-career teacher. I've worked in the private sector and paid into Social Security. However, I am not allowed to collect those benefits as a teacher in Illinois. I will also never receive a triple-digit pension. Many articles have been written, many have spoken out, but no one has mentioned that unlike other retirees, teachers do not receive any other retirement benefit from their employer - such as profit-sharing or matching 401(k) payments.

Both of these are benefits that employees receive from some private companies. While these costs are not being paid for by taxpayers, they are being paid for by any consumer of that company's products. It still comes out of our pocketbooks.

My point? Please consider both sides. Teachers, like most people, work hard during their career and deserve a decent retirement benefit. As a taxpayer, I agree that there should be a cap, but it should be a reasonable one.

Most importantly, please remember, teachers did not create this mess. Those in Springfield did.

Pat Salvatini

Rolling Meadows