Springfield school superintendent Jennifer Gill and other educators say schools and property taxpayers will suffer if the state goes ahead with Governor Bruce Rauner’s plan for a so-called “pension shift.”
Rauner has proposed transferring teacher pension costs from the state to local districts within four years.
Gill says that would ultimately slash funding for District 186 by $10 million a year… forcing sharp increases in property taxes, steep cuts in services, or both.
Gill says a longer phase-in would be easier to handle, but would still be problematic, given the long state history of underfunding schools.