Illinois survey of 500 likely voters Who should fund the employer share of teacher pensions: the state or local school districts? Will local pension accountability lead to higher property taxes? Last month, these questions prompted legislative talks over pension reform to come to a standstill. The results of a new poll commissioned by the Institute finds that public...

Last week, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, or GASB, finalized new rules to make pension funding more transparent. These new rules require governments to use more appropriate discount rates than most public pension plans have been using. Pension plans with sufficient funds set aside to pay future benefits can continue to discount future liabilities by current investment...

To see how local pension accountability will affect your district, click here. For decades, the state has subsidized the costs of pensions awarded to teachers who work at locally-run school districts. How? The state pays the “employer” share of pension benefits that teachers accrue each year, even though teachers are not state employees. That arrangement...