You are being way too kind to them.
A) They are claiming to be smart, so as to teach our kids, yet they didn't see something this obvious coming???
B) Much of the money that should have gone to fund their pensions instead went into their pockets as raises. The rest went for various pet causes and projects done at their behast as members of (along with the non-teacher public employees) the interest group that's been running Illinois for ever. They, collectively, are responsible for this and deserve every consequence resulting from it. So, as good libs, they are trying to duck all responsibility and shove the consequences onto the innocent.
As changing the Illinois constitution to allow sanity short of a federal bankruptcy court (in which maybe their state constitutional pension protections will be thrown the way of other states straight marriage clauses) remains politically impossible they have few choices. Mine would be to employ one of the key principles of liberalism: liberals think they can tax anything they want. E.g. their home state prodigy and his bud, John Roberts, on ObamaCare. So if you can't reduce the size of government pensions and benefits, give them their 'full' pensions/benefits but tax them enough to make the math work. As members of government employee unions ARE the rich for once they'd be honest in their 'tax the rich' statements.
Spend, Spend, Spend (Or promise, promise) - Elect, Elect, Elect (say, as in that Thad guy) - Tax, Tax, Tax!
This cycle has been successful for nearly a century and shows no evidence of being stopped.