Pols pull bait-and-switch on teacher pensions, taxes

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Updated: March 13, 2012 10:28AM

Homeowners in south suburban Ford Heights, where the median annual household income is about $16,000 and the average home is worth $42,000, pay property tax rates of 21.7 percent.

In Winnetka, where the average home is worth $1 million and the annual household income is $207,955, the property tax rate is about 6 percent, according to statistics compiled by the Cook County clerk.

I think it’s easy to see which of those communities would find it easier to find additional tax revenue if the Illinois Legislature decides to shift the cost of teacher pensions from the state to local school districts.

Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan have all said in recent days that teachers are not state employees and therefore the state should not be responsible for paying their pensions.

But the fact is that many school districts, particularly in the south suburbs of Chicago, can’t afford to pick up the cost of pension benefits.

During an editorial board interview with a Springfield newspaper, Cullerton implied that teachers in Chicago suburbs are overpaid, while Downstate school districts have been more financially responsible, completely ignoring the difference in the cost of living between the two areas.

Historically, the state of Illinois has ranked near the bottom of the nation in picking up its share of the cost for public education.

Although Article X of the Illinois Constitution states that “The State has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education,” it has been nearly 30 years since the state picked up anything close to 50 percent of the cost.

In recent years, that percentage has dipped below 30 percent, shifting the burden for public school funding onto property taxpayers.

If you’ve read recent newspaper stories about the state budget crisis, you know that for decades the state has been underfunding the teacher pension system, creating a financial mess that could bankrupt Illinois.

And now state legislative leaders want to shift that pension burden onto the backs of homeowners.

The examples of Ford Heights and Winnetka may be the most dramatic when it comes to the impact of property taxes, but they are not unique.

Homeowners in Barrington, where the median income is $102,370 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, pay a composite property tax rate of 5.5 percent. People in Chicago Heights, median household income $38,972, pay tax rates ranging from a low of 11.7 percent to a high of 15.8 percent.

In Robbins, the property tax rates range from 9 percent to 10.3 percent, while the median income is $22,481 and the average home value is $80,800. But in Schaumburg, where the median value of a home is $261,000, and the average household income is $66,741, the composite tax rate is 7.7 percent.

The problem of educating children becomes more complicated when you realize that most of lower-income towns have more special-education children, children living in poverty and children in broken homes.

It should be easier and more attractive to teach in a school district with higher-income parents with college educations and families more likely to participate in school activities. It would make sense to pay more for teachers in districts with more at-risk children. But what state legislative leaders are really telling the poorest school districts is that should cut teacher salaries to pick up the cost of teacher pensions.

Actually, what state’s political leaders are proposing is a classic bait-and-switch scam. The bait is a huge savings in teacher pension costs for taxpayers, but they’re gong to be switched to higher property tax bills that will eventually undermine the financial health and quality of suburban public school districts.

There are other ways to reform the pension system. But shifting the burden to local school districts is merely a ploy to shift the blame for the state’s financial mess.