Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is championing a bill to merge more than 640 local police and fire pension funds into two investment pools. With lawmakers returning to Springfield for veto session, action on the bill may be near.

After retiring at age 55, the average Chicago teacher just takes five months to get back everything they contributed toward their pension during their career.

If Illinois groups could come together to bring the same enthusiasm and support to a constitutional amendment, the state could fix its pension problem once and for all.

City pension contributions are set to spike by $1 billion over just four years. Taxpayers cannot afford the entire burden of fixing city finances.

East St. Louis is short $9.5 million between a budget deficit and back payments owed to its fire and police pensions. As a result, city leaders are closing a firehouse and laying off nine firefighters.

Consolidating downstate and suburban police and fire pension systems is a start, but both fixes and Illinois’ pension problems go much deeper.