Comments on: Funding in CPS and pension issues http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/ Ramblings of a Chicago Mom who spends too much time thinking about school Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:51:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: so sad http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-4331 Sat, 18 Sep 2010 01:13:12 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-4331 I am a tenured teacher now in the reassigned teacher pool. I am currently waiting for an assignment. I’ve got 10 months or so in the pool. I am now weighing my options-I may have to pull down my pension at a 20% hit if I am flipped to a cadre in the next 10 months. I never thought I would be in this situation. Your thoughts?

]]> By: hopeful http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1303 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:35:55 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1303 Wow, so your principal is retiring! If you are at the school I think you are at, she has a TERRIFIC reputation among teachers and other CPS staff across the city. I have spoken to many, many teachers that would have given everything to have worked for her. That is a huge loss to the system for her to leave. Sorry to hear it. I hope you get someone just as good to replace her.

]]> By: wr http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1300 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:23:17 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1300 The situation with CPS is very different. Teachers here receive no Social Security, and the pension is the only retirement they will receive. CPS teachers have paid into the Pension their entire careers. However– the state has been taking a “Pension Holiday” meaning they have not been paying into the pension. This has lead to the pension problems today. The state not paying into the pension. See the weekend newspaper.

]]> By: chicago parent http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1289 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:52:07 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1289 Pension Gap Divides Public and Private Workers by Dennis Cauchon, USA Today, February 21, 2007. “Retired government workers are twice as likely to get a pension as their counterparts in the private sector, and the typical benefit is far more generous. The nation’s 6 million retired civil servants … received a median benefit of $17,640 in 2005, according to the Congressional Research Service. Eleven million private-sector retirees covered by traditional pensions got $7,692.”
to read the entire story, click below
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-20-pensions-cover_x.htm

]]> By: IL / social security http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1288 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:17:54 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1288 Really, IL is one of the states where teachers get no SS (There are about a dozen other states where teachers get no SS and the teachers depend on pensions from the states). Now it makes sense why the pension is so generous.

]]> By: cpsobsessed http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1286 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:51:55 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1286 Really about the no SS? Thats weird. So why not just switch incoming teachers to a normal plan and get them as past of SS? In this day and age I think I’d feel more secure about having SS as my backup than a pension plan that could be stupidly invested, no? Plus, it just puts teachers and other city employees on par with the rest of workers.

]]> By: IL / social security http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1285 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:58:12 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1285 “My personal opinion is that the world is different now and nobody else in the US is being promised such a generous pension. Plus we know that lifespan is making the plan virtually impossible to fund. ”

Teachers in IL do not pay into, or receive Social Security as EVERYBODY ELSE IN ALMOST EVERY OTHER PROFESSION OR STATE DOES. That is the reason the pension is generous, so the CPS teachers do not retire and have to live by eating cat food in studio apartments.

]]> By: Mike http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1273 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:05:17 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1273 Regarding: “My personal opinion is that the world is different now and nobody else in the US is being promised such a generous pension. Plus we know that lifespan is making the plan virtually impossible to fund. ”

Agreed. Additionally, the defined benefit system currently in place penalizes non-career teachers (those who are driven out by the stress, etc after a few years). They earn a lot less and save less for retirement than they otherwise would. The pension also acts as a kind of golden handcuffs for those who toil away for their 30 years in a job they hate (admittedly to spend the next 30-40 years at 80% pay on permanent vacation).

We need to find a way to change this for everyone’s sake.

]]> By: hopeful http://cpsobsessed.com/2009/12/27/funding-in-cps-and-pension-issues/#comment-1272 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:26:51 +0000 http://cpsobsessed.com/?p=705#comment-1272 I think you did a great job of writing about an issue that is sensitive to teachers specifically. I am a teacher, and while I want my pension, I do agree that compromises must be made, given all the things you mentioned.

In fact, if the board actually funded classroooms fully, stocked with paper, glue, books, etc…I wouldn’t have to purchase those things myself, and could put several thousand dollars a year into a retirement fund for myself!

I, too, think very serious cuts are coming like Chicago has not seen in a long time. If you talk to any teacher who has been in the system more than 20 years, they will all tell you stories of 40 kids in a classroom as the norm (and this does still happen, just not as often). I will not be surprised to see that reoccur. We currently have some specialty programs, like preschool for all and after school tutoring, that I personally believe will be completely eliminated within the next 2-3 years. It is very concerning, and as a teacher, I am worried about the impact on the students I love. I don’t know that answer, but it is definitely something to watch. Hawaii’s teachers were forced to take something like 15 furlough days this past year. This meant nearly a day off school for students and teachers every other week. The CTU is very powerful and I doubt they’d let that happen here, but one way or the other, cuts are inevitable.

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