Currently guiding the Chicago consultancy Second Rail, John Heintz has past experience as assistant superintendent and chief legal officer of Niles Township High School District 219. Focused on ways of improving organizational performance and student achievement in Chicago, John Heintz authors regular blog articles on the Second Rail website.
In one recent piece, Mr. Heintz looked at ways in which transformation can occur in the educational realm. Unfortunately, the “what-was-good-enough-for-me-is-good-enough-for-my-children” syndrome stands squarely in the way of change. One aspect of the equation Mr. Heintz draws attention to is the pension crisis and a system that is rife with excesses.
Mr. Heintz proposes a simple solution, that of requiring all parties with financial exposure to sit at the table during negotiations. In Illinois, only school boards and teachers’ unions work out arrangements, with the state government that actually pays the pensions having no negotiating authority.
As the state cannot “go out of business,” the stultifying situation arises where the teacher’s pension is secure and there is no real motivating force for innovation in the way things are done. When the rewards educational employees accrue do not correlate with merit, risk taking is not encouraged and stagnancy easily sets in.
John Heintz (Chicago) 
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