To: Governor J.B. Pritzker

Governor Quinn! LEAVE TEACHER PENSIONS ALONE!

Governor Quinn! Your teacher pension proposals are not fair. They are unconstitutional. They do not solve the pension crisis. It is a revenue problem, not a benefit problem! Governor Quinn! Leave our pensions alone!

Why is this important?

Governor Quinn has made several proposals to change teacher pensions in Illinois! We believe Governor Quinn's proposals violate the Illinois constitution! We believe the proposals are not FAIR! Teachers have lived up to our TRS commitments—the state did not!

"There they go again!" The Governor is focusing on cutting retired benefits not creating new revenue streams! Governor—the pension problem is a revenue problem—we need a graduated income tax. We need to close fat cat corporate loopholes!

The governor's proposals will have a harmful impact on current teachers and make education a less attractive career for younger people. Teaching is a stressful career and burnout is a problem—these proposals will only increase the burnout potential.

His proposal applies to active employees enrolled in the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and the State Universities Retirement System (SURS).

The proposal that the Governor outlined would be posed to members as a choice. The choice would be for members to choose this benefit package and receive their health insurance or for members to keep the pension benefit structure they currently are afforded but their future salary increases would not count toward their pension, and their health insurance benefits would be dramatically reduced or eliminated. Again, the details are minimal and the implications of many of these ideas have not been fully fleshed out by the governor.