Teachers already paid too much

The following is an email we sent to the District 23 teachers in reply to a flyer they placed on our front door:

We received your flyer on our door yesterday. We believe your information is misleading. Because of Illinois teacher pensions, your earning capacity over your lifetime is incredible, richer than any in the private sector.

So, if teachers "only" receive 1.2 percent salary increase, it is still increased over the life of teacher pensions at a COLA increase of 3 percent per year compounded, along with all of the other salary bumps teachers receive for special duties, pay grade jumps, etc.

Most of the teachers we know retire at about 55 with a very lucrative package that increases at an annual compounded rate of 3 percent. You must look at the entire package to get the right perspective.

We believe that Illinois teachers are currently overcompensated for the product they produce. Most of our young people cannot even meet minimum dumbed-down educational standards set up by the state.

If your product were an automobile, no one would buy it and your company would go bankrupt.

You state that there will be "NO increase in taxes due to PHEA's Proposal". What about a tax reduction? Seventy percent of our property tax bill goes to education. What is fair anyway? We have not had a child in the public school system in Illinois for 23 years and still 70 percent of our taxes go to education, and the product our educational system produces gets worse every year.

Teachers want compensation increases. We want a tax reduction, or at the very least a product that everyone can be proud of.

Joe and Bonnie

Romanowski