Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

12-4-13 Fred Klonsky | Running for our pensions. | VOTE 4 Fred Klonsky

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:



Rahm wants to go after us geezers. Get in the friggin’ line.
The Reader’s Ben Joravsky The state’s lawmakers had passed a pension bill for all of about ten minutes—socking it to little old retirees from Cairo to Waukegan—when Mayor Emanuel issued a statement to the press. “The pension crisis is not truly solved until relief is brought to Chicago and all of the other local governments across our state that are standing on the brink of a fiscal cliff because

What it will cost a retiree.
The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability has developed a formula to calculate estimated changes in retirement income over the years, based on the best information available right now, pension specialist Amanda Kass said. Here are three scenarios: Employee 1 Retired teacher, 30 years of service Initial annual benefit: $67,000 Annual pension benefit after 20 years of retirement: $121,009 a year

Planning on giving money to Dick Durbin? Don’t.
I got a letter from Illinois Senator Dick Durbin: I have some important news I want to share with you: I am officially running for re-election to the United States Senate! I’ve filed my petitions to get on the ballot — with signatures from each of Illinois’ 102 counties — and yesterday the race officially began. But I need your help to get our campaign off to a fast start. Will you help me k
The in box. The new COLA formula and rates for Tier 1 retirees.
From the Illinois Retired Teachers Association: For clarification purposes the IRTA plans to file a lawsuit after the Governor signs the bill into law. It is anticipated that the Governor will sign the legistion in the next 10 days. You will receive your 3% compounded COLA in January, as scheduled. The following comparison explains how the new legislation affects your future increases. This inform
The vile Chicago Tribune cartoon.
Having reposted the vile Chicago Tribune cartoon that compares the states public service workers – police, janitors, secretaries, teachers, professors and others to a dog with it’s sex organs removed, my blood pressure has not yet returned to normal. Earlier today I posted how this fight was never just about pensions. It was always about the future of working families at a time when the countries


It’s the Democrats, stupid. And the Republicans, if they mattered.
  Democrat Kelly Cassidy was for it before she was against it before she was for it. Democrat Toni Berrios was for it before she got primaried and voted against it.   Will Guzzardi’s primary challenge is the reason Berrios flipped. There was never any doubt about the outcome. We made bets on when. Would Democratic party boss Michael Madigan get his way back in May. Or the first week in December
  
12-3-13 Fred Klonsky | Running for our pensions. | VOTE 4 Fred Klonsky
Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: #Pension theft. Protest at Marion district office of John Bradley.Read the entire story in The Southern. “Our pension didn’t cause the problem and stealing will not fix it,” said Alan Latoza, President of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) IL Retirees Subchapter 93.