Illinois may finally be addressing its dysfunctional teacher retirement system with meaningful, bipartisan reform:
The sweeping pension changes, presented by House Republican Leader Tom Cross and Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan, would establish three retirement options for government workers to choose from going forward. State employees could keep their retirement benefit in place but pay more; take smaller benefits but pay no more; or set up a 401(k)-style plan that would give employees more control of their investments but also see them roll the dice on the markets.
I’ve made no secret of how little I think of last year’s “reform” in Illinois, which simply took money out of the pockets of young teachers to make up for the bad choices made by legislators and unions. This is a much better start, and it’s cheering that the Democratic leadership is on board.
Labor doesn’t like it, with the Illinois AFL-CIO’s president claiming this measure would reform the pension system “on the backs of working families.” But working people are going to be hurt no matter what, since the retirement system is in terrible fiscal shape. The question is whether reform shares the pain or soaks only new workers, and whether Illinois can compensate new teachers in an attractive and competitive way. The state needs to get both those questions right.
Keep it up, Illinois reformers.
