History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
No easy way to cut CalSTRS benefits
- 02-01-2011
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Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess
Call it pension envy, matched by frustration over higher pension contributions that taxpayers will eventually be asked to fork over. The clamor for cutting public employees’ pension benefits has grown louder. And that includes calls to change CalSTRS, the pension system serving 856,000 teachers and administrators in California. The Legislature approved bonus benefits in the fat years of Wall Street when it looked like pension systems would forever be fully funded. (See excellent post by Ed Mendel of Calpensions.com.) Then the recession hit, and, amid mortgage and bank fraud on Wall Street, stocks tumbled. The downturn on Wall Street in 2008 has left CalSTRS and CalPERS, which serves state employees and some school district employees, needing higher taxpayer and employee contributions to make up for problem investments. (See earlier post.) (more...)
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