Illinois teacher pension stewards protest another pension holiday proposal

[TexasTowelie]

The stewards of Illinois’ teacher retirement fund are criticizing Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposal to pay less into the pension system than is suggested by actuaries, and mentioned the term “insolvency” in doing so.

In a statement, the entire board of the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois, which manages the retirement funds for all public teachers except those in Chicago, condemned Pritzker's proposal to short the accounts by hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming fiscal year.

“The system is at a growing risk of insolvency in the event of an economic downturn,” it read. “This danger is the direct result of eight decades of state contributions that always have fallen far short of actuarially based funding. TRS long-term investment returns consistently exceed the system’s expectations; but investment income alone will not be enough to prevent insolvency.”

State Rep. Steve Reick, R-Woodstock, told lawmakers on the House Floor that they’re ignoring the problem and need to begin examining where state money is sent in lieu of properly funding pensions.

Read more: https://www.ilnews.org/news/state_politics/illinois-teacher-pension-stewards-protest-another-pension-holiday-proposal/article_68e93c38-4ce8-11e9-84a5-cfcdc40451cd.html

[Sherman A1]

1. This is horse hockey

A pension commitment is a commitment and needs to be honored. Not funding them is the same as stealing in my book.

[rampartc]

2. +1

[beachbum bob]

3. Why not place some of TRS cost back on the school districts themselves? Why should Illinois

tax payers foot the bill of all downstate teachers and school admins while Chicago Public Schools property tax payers pay not only for their teachers and school admins pensions BUT also for downstate teachers and school admins thru state income taxes???

Its entirely unfair and is the root cause of the pension issue in TRS