From the IEA Insider...

Greetings:

Welcome to this special edition of the insider.

We had expected that the first budget presented by Gov. Pat Quinn would be a move toward reversing the years of neglect and mismanagement by Rod Blagojevich.

That is why we are profoundly disappointed to see that Gov. Quinn, like his predecessor, apparently is willing to ignore the school funding crisis and the state's structural deficit while balancing the state budget on the backs of public education employees and state government workers.

It was the irresponsible actions of past General Assemblies and governors that caused the state pension deficit. Yet, instead of asking the legislature to raise the revenue to address the shortfall, Gov. Quinn would hand every employee a 2 percent pay cut in the form of an increased contribution to retirement.

Instead of making certain the state meets its obligations to the state pension systems, the governor is asking that the scheduled funding request will be reduced by two-thirds, exacerbating the underfunding of the Teachers Retirement System and the other state systems.

Instead of offering a plan to fix the state's broken school funding system, Gov. Quinn allows the current system to stand, even though children in every part of the state are being denied the opportunity for a high quality education due to inadequate funding.

Instead of directing that the federal stimulus funds be used as President Obama intended, to preserve jobs and programs in public education, Gov. Quinn would use these one-time funds to balance the state budget.

Instead of supporting efforts to make sure the best and brightest continue to choose education as a career, Gov. Quinn is proposing retirement disincentives that surely will drive some highly qualified young people away from a career in education.

The governor's proposal is unacceptable to the 133,000 members of the Illinois Education Association.

During the spring legislative session, we will work in a positive way to pass a budget that is not balanced on the backs of hard working school employees and which addresses our structural deficit and gives every student the opportunity to attend a great public school.