Pay spikes push pensions into six figures

Pioneer Local reports on Illinois public school teachers:

Scores of retired teachers from some suburban high schools are pulling pensions of more than $100,000 a year because their school boards granted them raises of 40 percent as they headed toward the exits.

School districts that gave retiring teachers at least two pay bumps of 20 percent dominate the top ranks of districts with the most pensioners drawing six-figure income from the Teachers' Retirement System.

The runaway leader -- with 146 people in that category -- is Palatine Community High School District 211, a large northwest suburban district that serves 12,000 students in five high schools. The district includes Palatine, Conant, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Fremd high schools.