Cartoonist Stantis on pension crisis: "Oh, the humanity!" Plus: Charter schools in political crossfire

OUR EXPLOSIVE AIRSHIP We certainly hope Chicago Tribune cartoonist Scott Stantis is wrong about the fate of Illinois' pension systems. Still, he's got a point, don't you think? 

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PENSIONS, YOU SAY? The Daily Herald of Arlington Heights also knows the combustible and potentially disastrous nature of the hostile talk that's defined the pension reform debate. As it prepares to co-host The Pension Forum with Reboot Illinois next week, it urges all sides to back off the acrimony: "Let us all talk, not shout," says its editorial. Wise words, we believe. Read it here.

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CHARTER SCHOOLS BATTERED While charter schools focus on their students, "the rhetoric of charter schools has become a political football, used by politicians of every stripe for self-serving purposes." The head of the Illinois State Charter School Commission laments that charter schools now are caught in the middle of the bitter political fight over school closings in Chicago, which has detracted from the long-accepted role of charter schools in giving parents an education option for their children. "(T)he political climate has been set back, at the expense of thousands of children who deserve and need better," writes Greg Richmond. He's got a point. Read the whole piece here.

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HOLD 'EM While many lawmakers in Springfield are giddy at the economic potential of a bill that would double gambling in Illinois -- adding five casinos, including one in Chicago -- Illinois Gaming Commission chair Aaron Jaffe fears the corruption this mammoth bill will invite. Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association says casino-happy legislators need to listen to Jaffe before rolling the dice on a potentially dangerous plan. We've got Shaw's column here.

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DAILY TIP-OFF We start today's news roundup with a note of thanks to the Chicago Tribune, which on Friday republished in print and online our editorial on the odd politics of a school choice bill that failed in the Illinois House last week. If you missed it the first time, you can read it here.

Chicago venture capitalist Bruce Rauner is learning the advantages and disadvantages of being the first candidate to (possibly) enter a race. The advantage is you get all the media coverage. The disadvantage is you get all the media coverage. Crain's Chicago Business goes after Rauner in an editorial that wonders why he wasn't among the business leaders in recent years who loudly warned of disaster if the state didn't fix its pension system. And Springfield political columnist Bernard Schoenburg has quotes from some GOP lawmakers who depict Rauner as out of touch with the political realities of Illinois. Links are here. (Rauner, of course, is making his political outsider status the main selling point in his possible bid for the GOP nomination for governor.)

Many suburban property taxpayers and parents will be upset to read in today's Daily Herald how their school districts have been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties for granting giant end-of-career raises to administrators and teachers. A 2005 state law imposed fines for school districts that drive up pension costs this way, but that hasn't stopped districts like Schaumburg Township District 54, which paid $489,841 for its generosity.

The suburbs are paying these penalties at a time when school districts statewide are suffering from declining state funding that started in 2009 and could drop by up to $400 million next year. This is because the pension crisis is taking ever-bigger bites of the state budget. Illinois State Board of Education Chairman Gery Chico, however, wants the state to put $847 million more into education in fiscal year 2014. That's just to get Illinois paying the minimum per-student funding established by its own law in 2010.

Even if you're not among those owed money by deadbeat Illinois, you're still paying the price of the state's $8 billion bill backlog. The state "flushes away" $78 million in interest each year due to penalties for chronically late payments, Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka tells GateHouse News Service in the latest of its excellent "Deadbeat Illinois" series.

Links to these and other Illinois reform news articles are in the Daily Tip-Off section of our website.

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