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Quinn Stepping up Pressure on Pension Reform

Governor Pat Quinn is stepping up his campaign to change the pension plan for public school teachers and state employees.
The Governor says the cost of retirement benefits could soon overwhelm spending on education. Quinn has called a special session for legislators to deal with the $87-billion dollar unfunded liability of the pension systems. But legislators have so far failed to agree on a key aspect of the plan and it's not clear they're any closer to a deal.  There's a divide over whether downstate and suburban Chicago school districts should pay the employer share of the pension costs for public school teachers. Democratic Representative Elaine Nekritz, from Northbrook, has introduced legislation to gradually phase-in the cost shift. She says pension spending increased by a billion dollars just this year alone.   But Amanda Kass, with the non-partisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, says not every district can afford the shift.  She says school districts that don't have the money to spend on this right now need to be balanced with wealthier school districts who could maybe absorb more of the shift. Kass says shifting costs on to local school districts could lead to property tax increases or budget cuts at the local level.

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