SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Below is the recent IEA (Illinois [Mis]Education Association) mailer sent on behalf of Kirk Dillard.

dillard mailer 1

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What did Kirk Dillard say about teacher union rights?   Here is the quoted text from the IEA mailer above:

“I was proud to stand with Gov. Thompson when he signed the collective bargaining law in 1983. It creates a fair process at the local level and should not be tampered with.”

What did the 1983 law actually do?

The law signed by Thompson was HB1530. This legislation forced local school districts to bargain with the teachers union and allowed teacher strikes.

By 1983, the time for comprehensive bargaining legislation had arrived. The legislature voted to approve two bargaining bills that established a duty to bargain and granted a broad right to strike (except where the public health and safety would be endangered). The first H.B. 1530, covered employees of public schools, colleges, and universities and wasbacked enthusiastically by the IEA.

Did this law create “a fair process at the local level” like Kirk Dillard stated?

No it did not. In fact it skewed the negotiating power so far to the teacher union side that the legislature had to enact PTELL (Property Tax Extension Limitation Law) just 7 years later in 1990 to slow the rapidly increasing property taxes. PTELL, often referred to as the tax cap limited taxing bodies to a property tax increase no greater than 5% of CPI, whichever was lower.  Here are a few more details of PTELL.

    • PTELL affected just the collar counties starting in 1991 and then Cook county in 1994.  Many other counties have accepted PTELL over the years.  You can view PTELL history here
    • All property tax funds are not capped under PTELL
    • Read a detailed explanation of PTELL here

Did PTELL help level the playing field?

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No and by 1994 there was already a growing unfunded pension liability. The pension liability was so bad Gov Jim Edgar and Michael Madigan worked out a pension ramp that was severely back loaded.  This pension ramp was supported by then Sen. Kirk Dillard, Bill Brady and Dan Rutherford.

EdgarPensionRamp

The collective bargaining legislation that Kirk Dillard supported has caused a complete breakdown of the balance of power in Illinois. This dramatic power balance shift to the government unions set the state on the path that has made us the laughing stock of the nation. Illinois is now the most corrupt and most broke state in the country.

We now know more of why the IEA and IFT union bosses have endorsed Kirk Dillard.  He is a big supporter of allowing these union bosses to maintain their advantages at the collective bargaining table at the expense of the taxpayers of Illinois.