Gov. Pat Quinn is standing behind a report issued by his office of Management and Budget that says Illinois will be spending more on public pension than education by the end of Fiscal Year 2016.
Quinn says lawmakers must act on pension reform soon. “We’re spending more money on people, retirement money from the State of Illinois, than we’re spending on children getting educated, so this is a fire bell in the night, this is an alarm for all of us,” Quinn said.
Lawmakers are being called to Springfield Aug. 17 for a Special Session to deal with pensions, but Republican lawmakers remain skeptical. They don’t agree with Quinn’s plan to shift the cost of teacher pensions from the state to school districts, saying it would lead to property tax hikes.
