Schools' funding muddled // Key veto perils passage of bill

Gov. Thompson gave - and then he took away.

He signed a bill Thursday that would let Chicago schools use $66million to help fund a new teachers contract.

But he vetoed a key provision that would have lowered theretirement age for all Illinois teachers from 60 to 55, arguing thatearly retirement would cost the state an extra $300 million over thenext four years.

Thompson's action leaves the fate of the school bill in questionin the General Assembly.

However, the head of the Chicago Teachers Union insisted thatschools will open on time, and educators and political leaders playeddown the possibility of a strike, saying it is premature to speculateuntil the General Assembly takes action.

"While we are disappointed that the governor did not sign SenateBill 1591 as approved . . . we are heartened that he left intact themechanism to provide additional resources to Chicago public schools,"said union President Jacqueline B. Vaughn. "Schools will open inSeptember."

Teachers and parents Thursday said they are reassured thatsummer vacation for students wouldn't extend past Labor Day.

"They've been out of school for two months" and that's enough,said Clarence Davis, a member of the local school council at CraneHigh School, 2245 W. Jackson.

Davis said his children have endured teachers strikes and he ishappy that "there wouldn't be any problems opening school on Sept.5."

The bill's early-retirement section "is not an affordableprovision," Thompson said. "For as sure as the night follows the day,other employee unions of the State of Illinois would come to thebargaining table to demand that the retirement age . . . be loweredfrom 60 to 55. That would saddle the taxpayers of Illinois with amultimillion-dollar obligation."

The early-retirement provision was a key reason the legislationsqueaked through in the first place. To win the backing of the CTUand Downstate lawmakers, it rolled back the retirement age forteachers statewide from 60 to 55 without penalty.

The bill also allows the School Board to reallocate $66 million,including $51 million in property tax revenues earmarked forpensions. It also diverts $15 million headed to the schools'building fund.

"I think it's in near-fatal trouble," said the bill's sponsor,Sen. Arthur L. Berman (D-Chicago). "And the only way I think it hasany hopes of surviving is if the governor gives me a list of . . .Republicans to vote for the bill. . . . Then we'll know if thegovernor's action was meaningful, or if it's just a torpedo to sinkthe Chicago school system."

Berman said the governor's action Thursday may jeopardizekeeping schools open after Dec. 1. Teachers' raises are slated totake effect Nov. 5, but a legislative session to either override orratify the governor's action is not scheduled until mid-November.

Both Berman and Senate Minority Leader James "Pate" Philip(R-Wood Dale) said the bill would face overwhelming difficultygetting the necessary 36 votes in the Senate to begin the overrideprocess.

Thompson's move sends the bill back to the General Assembly butdeletes the early-retirement provision and a section that would havemade the state responsible for the unfunded liability of the Chicagoteachers' pension fund. That liability could have posed a threat tothe state's Triple-A credit rating, Thompson said.

The General Assembly can approve the amended bill by a simplemajority. A three-fifths' majority is needed to override hisamendments and also to ensure that the $66 million is immediatelyavailable, Berman said.

If lawmakers approve the bill by a simple majority, it would nottake effect until July, 1991, and until then the $66 million wouldn'tbe available, Berman said.

But the board possibly could take money from elsewhere to coverpay raises until then, according to Patricia Whitten, a School Boardattorney.

Contributing: Lou Ortiz, Steve Neal, Ray Hanania