Springfield Visit and Teacher Pensions

Did I learn anything new from my lobby visit on Wednesday. Not really. Governor Quinn stopped by and mentioned that he was dropping a 2% increase in pension payments. That is a positive note, but having new teachers teach until they are 67 is CRAZY. Who is going to teach for 45 years? Who is going to pay for the extra cost of teachers for those extra years. (teachers will be at the top of the scale for a longer time) Won't new teachers move to states that have better retirement benefits? There are so many problems from increasing retirement age to 67. What can you do? Contact your local politicians and tell them what you think. If you are a teacher you can work with your union. If this age increase passes through in the budget, then I think teachers need to make a clear strong statement. We need to walk out, if school is still in session. 100,000 Illinois teachers not teaching for a day or two would make a strong comment on how we feel about our state government.