“Historic” Chicago Education Funding Reform Signed

Thanks to four legislative leaders, Chicago’s financially ailing school district is about to get a huge funding boost, which includes provisions for teachers’ pensions.

Signed Thursday by Gov. Bruce Rauner, SB 1947 will change how aid is distributed among school districts, and will give Chicago schools an additional $1.1 billion in state funding over the next five years.

“This afternoon, the four legislative leaders and the governor reached an agreement in principle on historic school funding reform,” House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and Senate Republican Leader-designee Bill Brady said in a joint statement Thursday. “Language will be drafted and details of the agreement released once the drafts have been reviewed. The leaders will reconvene in Springfield on Sunday in anticipation of House action on Monday.”

The new law will see the majority of education funds go to districts with the largest gaps between their adequacy targets and available local resources, providing relief for cash-strapped school districts as well as employee retirements. The law also provides potential for property tax relief to homeowners and school-choice protection for parents who wish the best possible education for their children.

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“The passing of this historic legislation was no easy feat, but it’s a reminder of the good things we can accomplish when we put politics aside and focus on what’s important: our children and our future,” Rauner said in a statement. “I am proud to sign this bill, which will bring more money to school districts based on the needs of the children, guaranteeing that all Illinois students have access to adequate education funding.”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel also expressed his gratitude for the agreement via social media.

“Education funding reform bill SB 1947 is signed, a historic moment for children across our city and state,” he tweeted.

Tags: Chicago, Illinois, Pension, Pension Reform

The Wilmington, Delaware, treasurer’s office has been paying spousal pension benefits to a woman more than 20 years after her death, a recent audit revealed.

According to a city audit, the Wilmington treasurer paid spousal benefits—a total of nearly $73,000—to an unnamed woman from 1974 until this year, when the office learned that she had died in 1997. According to Delaware Online, Social Security records did not document her death two decades prior, leading to an additional $72,966.60 in postmortem payments.

To cross-check Social Security and death records with pensioner information, the city was using third-party vendor Comserv on a semi-annual basis for roughly 20 years until they recently went out of business. Wilmington has since been using another contractor that allows the treasurer’s office to check Social Security information more frequently.

There are several ways the treasurer’s office can learn of a benefits recipient’s death. The office regularly checks newspapers for death notices, families will call the city to inform them of a person’s passing, or mail is returned.

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“They usually have some way of knowing, but they never got returned mail for this person. There was no indication that the person was dead,” acting City Auditor Tamara Thompson told Delaware Online. “This happened to be an anomaly. If it’s not reported, then it’s nearly impossible to detect.”

Whether the city will get the payments back is the hands of the law department, according to City Treasurer Velda Jones-Potter. The city did not indicate whether is currently pursuing or planning to pursue a criminal investigation into the matter.

Tags: Death, Delaware, Pension, Treasurer