SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Metro East school superintendents say if the state forces their districts to take over the cost of teacher pensions as Gov. Pat Quinn suggests, local property taxpayers can expect to ultimately see the bill.

"It wouldn't hurt the school district — it would hurt the local taxpayer, and we would get blamed," said Dennis Burnett, financial director of Granite City School District No. 9.

By one estimate, that district alone could get hit with a $2.7 million bill if it has to take over its own pension costs, an expense that officials say would have to be passed on to local property taxpayers.

Under the proposal being floated by Quinn, the state's 1,101 school districts outside Chicago would take over some $800 million a year in payments that the state makes to cover public teacher pensions. Democratic leaders say the state should follow Chicago, which currently funds its own pension system. With the state's public pension system facing an $83 billion long-term shortfall, they say, it's time to spread the pain.

Quinn hasn't formally proposed the cost-shift yet, but he and other Democratic leaders have been testing the waters on the idea in various forums, including Quinn's annual budget address on Wednesday.

"More than three-quarters of this pension cost (to the state) is for non-state employees," including teachers in school districts throughout the state, Quinn noted in the speech. "Every unit of government has a stake in this mission. We must repair this broken system, and we must do it now."

While the idea of making the local districts bear some of the cost of their own employee pensions may sound like common sense, critics say, it ignores the fact that Illinois schools have been historically underfunded by the state and are barely keeping up with costs now. Hitting the districts with such a massive new expense, they say, would force the districts to either cut even further than they already have, or go to their local taxpayers for it.

"The school districts are ill-prepared to handle these types of payments," said state Rep. Ron Sandack, R-Downers Grove. "It's a recipe for chaos and instability to the school boards, and of course, and more importantly, chaos and instability to the taxpayer."

According to a report from the Illinois Teachers Retirement System, if lawmakers decide to go the route of shifting costs of teachers' retirement benefits on to local school districts, Belleville District No. 118 would owe nearly $1.6 million. Edwardsville District No. 7 would owe $3 million, Alton District No. 11 would owe $2.7 million and Bethalto District No. 8 would owe $1 million.

"My district cannot afford that extra million dollars and my community cannot afford that extra million dollars," said Russel Clover, the Bethalto district's business manager.

Alton district Financial Director Chris Norton said it would be "unrealistic" to expect his district to absorb the $2.7 million in potential cost. He said that would amount to about 5 percent of the district's budget.

State Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, argued that the plan could end up being beneficial to the local school districts, because it would free up state budget money and allow Springfield to finally start catching up on the backlog of funding it owes the districts. "If we shift some of these costs we'd actually be in a position to pay them the money we owe them," Cullerton said.

Burnett, of the Granite City district, expressed doubt that a cost-shift would make the state improve its record when it comes to paying what it owes to the schools.

Missouri does not rely on state funding for teachers' retirement benefits. The Public School Retirement System of Missouri covers teachers' retirement benefits and is funded by employer and member contributions.