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* WBEZ…
The role private schools should play in Illinois’ public education landscape is turning out to be a major divide in the state’s gubernatorial race, with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner saying he wants to expand a taxpayer-funded program to send children to private schools, while Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker is vowing to shut it down.
“I’d like to have a billion dollar program,” Rauner told WBEZ and Chalkbeat Chicago in a one-hour election special on the future of education in Illinois. “We started with $100 million. Let’s expand it every year.”
A billion dollars? The Invest in Kids program is $100 million now, which would cost the state $75 million in tax credits if the program ever receives $100 million in donations from the public. So, a billion dollar plan would theoretically cost the state $750 million. Yikes.
As of today, however, Illinoisans have pitched in just $46.6 million to the program. If there isn’t enough market support for a $100 million program, I’m thinking a billion is just a wee bit out of reach. And nobody should be talking about any sort of expansion until far more Illinoisans decide the program is worthwhile.
* Over to JB Pritzker…
.@JBPritzker says he's against end-of-career teacher pension spiking, but he says supports union-backed effort to reverse law that caps spiking to 3% (or else district, not state takes on the pension cost) https://t.co/sLIQMtXyxt
— Amanda Vinicky (@AmandaVinicky) October 3, 2018
The new law reduced the spiking limit from 6 percent to 3. It was the product of bipartisan negotiations. The locals can still give out end of career raises, but they’ll have to pay for them. I’m pretty sure we’re the only state that pays the government’s side of teacher pensions. But, of course, our property taxes here are way too high and shifting costs would only make that problem worse. We really are in a pickle.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:16 am
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This is a real fear in a JB administration. What little reforms that have been made will get undone. Will Democrats be smart enough to not undo things like this? Do they understand that they will “own” everything as someone famously says on this blog for the next four years?
Comment by Flat Bed Ford Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:27 am
Too much of this campaign is about who has the bigger magic beans.
Comment by Keyrock Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:27 am
Charter schools take money AWAY from public education. All future state spending increases on education should shore up funding to current public schools. The regressive nature of Illinois’ tax structure should be the focal point of everyone running for Illinois GA, senate and Gov. A long term solution must be crafted (ramp flattening, refinancing of debt, etc.) and implemented However the current funding of Illinois State government is inadequate and requires a “California like” change for the next ten years to stop the deficit spending, pay State employees what they’re owed and fully pay into our pension funds.
Comment by qualified someone nobody sent Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:29 am
===Do they understand that they will “own” everything as someone famously says on this blog for the next four years?===
They understood “Pat Quinn failed” pretty well. So well, in fact, they turned it on Rauner, lol
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:30 am
I support both private and public education. My problem with the public school system is that I dislike monopolies, especially ones created by government.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:36 am
The Governor should have highlighted the benefits of the program for the 6,000+ students that have received scholarships so far and suggested eliminating the prohibition on taking a federal charitable deduction contained in the legislation given the new IRS rules. Rich, you’re right - asking for an expansion when the cap hasn’t been reached doesn’t make any sense.
Comment by Spiritualized Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:37 am
Rauner’s servin’ up free bubble-ubb and rainbow stew with that pie in the sky;)
Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:42 am
So JB is for the 3% cap but against the local school districts picking up the excess cost? Or is it the lower percentage?
Any raise given to a retiring teacher that is greater than what the bargaining unit receives is a spike.
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:45 am
In Missouri, where I first worked, I believe that the situation is similar, at least in terms of public education. There was an effort to legislate that out of existence last year, I believe, though I am don’t believe that it passed.
But in Missouri, participants pay out a higher % of earnings into their pension than they do here. I think the numbers are something like 14.5% in MO vs. 8-9.5% in Illinois.
How effectively they have managed their pension system? According to one source, about as well as Illinois - https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Pension_Report_Card_Missouri
Comment by Mr. Smith Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:49 am
“But, of course, our property taxes here are way too high and shifting costs would only make that problem worse. We really are in a pickle.”
I think that pickle was started because of spiking in the first place, which has contributed to unfunded pension liabilities skyrocketing, which has made a pension payment a huge portion of GRF spending, which has crowded out education funding, which has increased property taxes.
Local districts need to put skin in the game to keep costs low for all, rather than passing those on to the state.
Comment by ugh Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:00 pm
=our property taxes…are high=
If you think that your property taxes are too high, then don’t complain when your police and fire protection, public works and art, music and sports in the schools are cut.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:22 pm
–“I’d like to have a billion dollar program,” Rauner told WBEZ and Chalkbeat Chicago in a one-hour election special on the future of education in Illinois. –
Really? How much did you and Griff kick in this year, if the program is so worthwhile?
Because the response of the philanthropic community was anemic, to say the least, considering you’d get kicked back 75 cents on every dollar contributed.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:23 pm
This is the problem with JB, he is against spiking, but also doesn’t like the law to reduce the incentive for spiking. What is it that he doesn’t like about the law?
Comment by Name/Nickname/Anon Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:23 pm
How about spiking the starting pay of outstanding teachers so they stay in the profession or are drawn to it in the first place?
Heaven forbid schools start paying teachers to teach rather than paying them to quit, which is what pension spiking is.
The old deal has always been: Hey, if you work long enough at low pay, we’ll take care of you in retirement.
That deal is outdated.
Time to change.
Comment by Leigh John-Ella Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:26 pm
There’s a question I’ve had since this provision went into place. If a teacher 3 years from retirement takes a better (i.e. higher paying by 3+%) position in the district 2 years from retirement, is that covered by the anti-spiking provision?
Comment by titan Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:27 pm
Way too much scapegoating on the executive branches failures, particularly in a Republican administration, and almost none on coequal legislative and judicial branches that have been had their current makeup a lot longer than 3/12 years.
Illinois will never be fixed unless all 3 branches work together to address their constitutional requirements and work to solve the problems in the state and not just work to protect their political fiefdoms.
We lead the nation in distrust of state government but very little self awareness in Springfield why that is.
Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:28 pm
===Way too much scapegoating on the executive branches failures, particularly in a Republican administration===
Did you miss the whole “Pat Quinn failed” by Rauner or dies your programming deny you honest discourse.
34 more days “Lucky Pierre”
“Bruce Rauner failed”… “Pat Quinn failed”
Skyhook, in reverse.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 12:55 pm
–We lead the nation in distrust of state government but very little self awareness…–
Now your just going for belly laughs, talking about “little self-awareness….”
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 1:07 pm
==Way too much scapegoating on the executive branches failures, particularly in a Republican administration, ==
And yet another comment from the king of victims.
Do you think the Governor bears any responsibility for anything? Or are you happy with the victim schtick?
You still are completely dishonest.
Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 1:15 pm
==Heaven forbid schools start paying teachers to teach rather than paying them to quit, which is what pension spiking is.==
That ship sailed when we increased the service year multiplier to 2.2 which reduced the number of service years to full vesting by four years. That’s 4 less years of working (and contributing to a pension) and 4 extra years of collecting a pension and retiree health benefits.
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 2:14 pm
The 3% cap is a disaster for teachers and university faculty. Faculty where I work haven’t had a raise since 2013. We are now 15% underpaid compared to our peers. We’ve lost lots of ground to inflation, and the 3% cap makes if very difficult for the university to give us any raises higher than that. So it’s hard to believe we can ever be brought up to equality with our peers in other states.
Ditto for things like overload teaching–the only way for many faculty to just keep their salaries even with inflation is to teach an extra class or two. But that too may go away if the 3% stays in place, for overload/overtime pay counts toward the 3%. Oh, and promotional raises, when you get tenure–they will be hard to maintain or at least to increase. So, yeah, it’s a perfect storm. Pay teachers and faculty badly when they start out, then make it cost-prohibitive to reward them over time, or even keep their salaries at pace with inflation.
If we’re going to get out of the pension crisis, we should aim for something more progressive. Perhaps make universities pay pension costs above a certain dollar threshold. The cases that really burn people are when administrators collect multiple pensions–when people who were making very high salaries then collect almost as much money in retirement. Go after that stuff. Don’t set up a system that guarrantees that low paid employees will fall still further behind.
Comment by Doc Anonymous Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 2:35 pm
Titan, if a teacher 2 years from retirement takes a new position in the same district with an increase above 3%, there is a penalty to the district. If they take a position in another district, there is no limit to the amount of raise they can get, with no penalty to any district. The cap encourages experienced teachers to district hop. In central IL, experienced teachers changing districts are demanding placement on the salary schedule to receive 30%+ pay increases and often get $4-10K signing bonuses in addition to the raise. Meanwhile, teachers who stay in their districts can’t even take on additional coaching or other duties in their last years without penalty to the district.
Comment by Still Waiting Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 2:45 pm
Pension spiking is an outdated concept from when teachers really earned significantly less. This just isn’t the case now and it should be eliminated.
Comment by NeverPoliticallyIncorrect Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 3:01 pm
The 3% cap is a cost shift, which may be fair, but because of the way the cost is calculated, there is no way for a district to know what they will be charged until the employee retires.
If someone decides to change careers at age 35, their last few years can result in a charge to the district 20 or 30 years later.
If a faculty member takes on extra duties and is compensated for them, it can result in a charge to the district.
There are so many moving pieces of a salary and career that the 3% cap (and 6% cap) are not clear cut in their long-term impact.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 3:41 pm
“I’m pretty sure we’re the only state that pays the government’s side of teacher pensions.”
And we have among the lowest levels of state support for higher ed, esp. community colleges. Cost shifting the pension contribution over 3% down to the districts is another cut in state support for education. Plus annual august 2017 to august 2018 inflation was 3%.
Comment by SN1789 Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 3:46 pm
Rich, FWIW, there are other states where the State pays the employer share of teacher pension contributions. Kentucky, Missouri, Connecticut are a few I found on the Google. No comprehensive list is readily available.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 4:15 pm
It will be interesting to see whether JB decides to go down the road of partisan tribalism, or whether he’ll be willing to stick to the compromise made by the four tops and be willing to let this program run its five year course. The current total raised is a US record for a 75% credit, not suffering.
Comment by Ed Equity Thursday, Oct 4, 18 @ 12:41 pm