By now you’ve heard that IEA is backing Pat Quinn for governor against Republican Bill Brady. Some of the reasons for this can be found here.
But the list of reasons why it is crucial for public schools, public school students and public school employees to defeat Brady and elect Quinn is not etched in stone.
No, like the US Constitution, the list of reasons “Why Bill Brady is bad for Illinois” is a living document. That is why, from time to time over the next two months, we will highlight the latest Brady comments, opinions and policy decisions that underscore the importance of electing Pat Quinn on November 2.
And here we go:
From Sen. Brady’s hometown paper comes word that while Brady would send fewer dollars to school districts, the districts should balance that loss on the backs of their employees.
While questioned by reporters in recent weeks, Brady said his proposed cuts to the state budget would mean schools will see less money from the state.
“Local school districts could absorb that by maybe not offering the pay raises that they put in place,” Brady said at a Springfield event Wednesday.
You might want to read that over a couple of times.
It sounds as though he thinks districts should stiff employees on their raises, regardless of what the contract says.
What is clear is that Gov. Brady will tell school districts that have been denied adequate state funding that, instead of lobbying for more revenue to preserve and enhance education quality, they can balance budgets by sticking it to the employees and, thereby, the students.
There are some very bad school boards that would love to have Gov. Bill Brady using his bully pulpit to bash public school employees. Under his leadership, they would be emboldened to try to deny employees reasonable compensation and the resources they need to do their work.
The result would be that attracting the highest quality people to public education would become even more of a chore. That’s bad news for students, communities and school employees everywhere.
Start spreading the news: Bill Brady is bad news for Illinois.
Illinois Education Association is an association of more than 130,000 members composed of Illinois elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty and staff, educational support professionals, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.
While I hate pay cuts and breaking contracts, taking a pay cut may be better than a job cut.
Quinn and Blagojevich are better decisions? I don’t ever remember such problems under Thompson, Edgar, and Ryan. The IEA always picks the political choice over the real choice. There needs to be a true fiscal conservative in Illinois. Brady, for now, is the only one that fits that bill. The budget must be balanced and there must be cuts in spending. Raising taxes to spend more apparently has neither worked now nor ever.
I’m not sure if either of the previous commenters are educators, but to the question of whether Quinn is a better choice the answer is clearly yes. As inept as he has been Quinn at least understands the value of education and the role of the government in providing a safety net for those in need. If “voting your pocketbook” resonates with educators, not a single one would vote for Brady. Under Brady the salaries and benefits that we have worked to achieve over the decades will be eroded. Active teachers can count on losing money and benefits during their working years and in retirement. Retired teachers already are worried about whether the pensions that we have worked for and contributed to will be there as promised throughout our lifetimes. Politicians forget that teachers do not qualify for social security and that our pensions are our only retirement income in most cases. If a private employer had failed to pay the required social security payments, they’d be in jail. When politicians fail to pay the required pension benefits they are considered fiscal conservatives and re-elected. Hopefully educators won’t fall for the “no tax increase” scam and realize that when your salary is paid from taxes, it is important to have adequate funding to pay the employees and the other bills. A $13 billion deficit doesn’t just happen. It occurs when politicians worry more about getting elected and less about governing. Which programs are left to cut to save $13 billion? And are we willing to deal with the damage those cuts will do to the programs and people that receive those services? I for one am not.
The notion that we can cut our way out of our budget problem is a fantasy. I recently had the opportunity to speak directly with Representative Rich Myers (94th district) and Representative Jil Tracy (93rd district) both Republicans in favor of budget cuts and opposed to increasing revenues. When asked to enumerate the budget cuts they would like to see enacted, neither of them could name enough cuts to equal more than 0.1% of the current state budget deficit. When that was pointed out to them they both replied “It’s a start.” But while it may be start to them, it does nothing to eliminate the current debt and alleviate the financial responsibilities that the state will face in the future.
Budget cuts alone will not solve our problem. In fact, depending on where the cuts are made, they could very well cause other problems. Our education system is facing some dire straits as it is. Further cuts could be devastating to a system that is already struggling to stay out of the red. And at what cost? In the end, it will be the children of Illinois who are left to suffer. Fewer teachers leads to larger classes and diminished course offerings. No child should be forced to endure a sub-par education simply because a bunch of politicians want to play a political game of chicken.
Quinn may not be perfect, but Brady’s own words make it clear that he is no friend to education and is therefore the wrong choice for the future of our state.
Brady, and those who think like him, created the economic climate we’re living in. Now, to their delight, the political environment is in their favor. The ‘simple’ among us blame ‘the teachers union’ and ‘public schools’, etc. Taxes are a dirty word but responsible taxes build society. Without public education, the well-off would be the only ones educated.