Last week we
were stunned to learn that Chicago
had just laid off another 1,000 teachers, in addition to the 420 teachers it
laid off when the district closed 50 schools.
Even for a district as large as Chicago that is a serious, serious
cut: almost 7 percent of its teachers.
How
come? Pension obligations, plain and
simple, says the district.
There are two
teacher pension systems in Illinois: there’s the one that is referred to as “downstate” (for every district BUT Chicago) and the one that is “upstate,”
(Chicago’s). Illinois has a law unique to the upstate pension plan which requires the Chicago Board of Ed
to make up any shortfalls in pension funds when they drop below 90 percent of
those needed to meet obligations. As the table below indicates, 2014 is when the
walls come crashing down, with the district having to triple its contributions:
Contributions by
Chicago BOE to the teacher pension fund required under Public Act 96-0889
The city had
two choices to raise the $600 million it needs to meet pension obligations:
raise taxes (which the state has already done) or cut public services,
including releasing public school employees.
What’s so appalling here is that what’s good for the Chicago
goose apparently isn’t good for the downstate gander. Downstate Illinois districts are more
than $43 billion in the hole (and counting) in the other pension plan, but that
plan has not subjected itself to an obligation similar to Chicago’s and is not
required by law to do so.
