Catherwood LibraryILR School

Illinois' next governor must grapple with a problem 30 years in the making: keeping retirement promises to more than 660,000 active and retired teachers and state workers. Years of scrimping on pension contributions coupled with benefit increases have turned the state into a poster child for a growing national problem, and staying on track with a long-term plan to fix Illinois' pension problem will require the kind of tough choices that politicians have avoided for years.