Paul Vallas and the Chicago teachers pension fund.

Vallas as mayor of Chicago? What a joke. But not a funny one.

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Now, on to Paul Vallas.

There are 99 reasons why Vallas shouldn’t be Mayor of Chicago and his role in the teacher pension mess is just one.

The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund was in good shape in 1995 when Vallas was given control of Chicago’s schools.

Until then, city property taxes were paid into a dedicated pension account and CPS couldn't shift the money to anything else.

It was an important protection.

The state’s teacher pension fund - for those of us who taught outside of Chicago - have never had that protection

. The state legislature, both when the Republicans were in control and when the Democrats ran it, consistently shorted pension payments to pay for other projects.

This allowed state politicians to avoid tax increases, using our retirement pension money as a credit card.

When Paul Vallas was picked by Daley to be his budget director and then shifted over to run the schools, he got the state law protecting the Chicago teacher pension fund changed.

He could do that because in the mid-1990s the Democrats took power in Springfield.

Jumping at the opportunity, Daley and Paul Vallas quickly got the pension law changed and used money once guaranteed for the pension fund and use it instead to cover operating costs.

Because of a booming economy at the time the teacher pension fund was still okay when Vallas left CPS in 2001 to temporarily run the school system in Philadelphia.

Until he was fired.

Then he temporarily ran the schools in New Orleans after Katrina and in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

All those towns soon asked him to leave.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago because of Vallas’ misuse of pension funds, unfunded pension liabilities began to rise.

Charles Burbridge, the CTPF executive director of the teachers’ fund at the time (he left in 2020), has said that the decision to shift funds away form the pension fund during that period was risky.

“When the rate of returns dropped, they had to scramble to find a source of funding again,” said Burbridge, who also served as the deputy chief financial officer at CPS under Vallas.

In 2006, Daley’s administration did start making payments into the pension fund, but as another school financial crisis loomed, Daley went back to Springfield to secure permission to reduce payments for yet another three years

Vallas had set the precedent.

When Rahm followed Daley to the fifth floor, he also went to Springfield and asked lawmakers to grant CPS pension payment relief for an another two years.

This time the legislature said no.

This was the situation Lori Lightfoot faced when she replaced Rahm as Chicago mayor.

Lightfoot’s recent actions to finally get a casino in the City is aimed at addressing the pension liability and fixing the mess that Vallas and Daley created.

Vallas, Daley and Emanuel all played a role in creating the public pension mess.

But among them, only Vallas wants now to be elected mayor.