Even in a perfect world—say, Missouri in the mid-1990’s—enhancing pension benefits for teachers creates winners and losers. A new report on Missouri’s teacher pension system shines a light on just how stark the difference is—and how damaging these changes will be for the teaching profession overall.

From 1995 to 2002, Missouri implemented a series of retroactive benefit enhancements to tContinue Reading »

The research field of teacher pensions has been a relative backwater, but lately it just keeps getting more interesting. Yesterday, the Fordham Institute released a new paper from Marty West and Matt Chingos analyzing a 2002 policy change in Florida which allowed teachers to choose between a traditional defined benefit pension plan and a 401k-style defined contribution plan. The authors were abContinue Reading »

According to important new research, teacher pensions—both how generous they are and how they are structured—have important effects on the quality of the teaching workforce. This research provides some insight into how the looming retirement of the Baby Boom generation may affect students.

Last week the Center for Retirement Research released a research brief looking at whether teacher sContinue Reading »

The need for teacher pension reform. The debt incurred through teacher pension systems has reached $325 billion, hurting the financial health of states and putting teachers’ futures at risk, as detailed in a new report. Education Sector analysts have long worked on ways to improve pension systems, including this Legal Guide to State Pension Reform. (National Council on Teacher Quality)

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NCTQ’s new report on the state of state teacher pension plans is well worth your time. If you’re new to the pension issue, it does a great job of breaking down the issues in simple and clear language. If you know your way around defined benefit plans, there’s still lots of good resources on, for example, the number of states that made changes to their pension formulas over the last four years. Continue Reading »

In FY 2010, the state of New Jersey, facing a $2.2 billion budget shortfall, adopted a series of measures to close the gap. The budget delayed $940 million worth of pension fund contributions for FY 2010. It also allowed towns and localities to defer their pension payments.

New Jersey was not alone. For years, state legislatures closed budget gaps by delaying payments to the state pensioContinue Reading »

Missed opportunities. More than half of low-income, “highly talented” students (in the top 4 percent) don’t apply to selective universities, according to new research. (Inside Higher Ed)

Underfunded pension plans. Pennsylvania is trying to make up for its long-term deficit in teachers’ pensions by charging more from taxpayers. But these are band-aid fixes; Education Sector analysts have Continue Reading »

Illinois can’t seem to stop itself from digging pension holes. Back in September, Chicago settled a two-week-long strike by giving its teachers a 17.6 raise over the next four years while ignoring that its penion fund pays out more in benefits each year than it brings in. On Tuesday, voters statewide rejected a proposed amendment to the constitution that would have raised the threshold foContinue Reading »

Evaluating the effectiveness of PD. Professional development is often rated based on whether teachers enjoyed it, but should it be judged in other ways? Could it be linked to achievement? (The Hechinger Report)

They got this. Officials in San Diego and San Jose are taking it upon themselves to address pension woes, as policymakers in Sacramento stall on the issue. Education Sector’s SaraContinue Reading »

Source: quickmeme.com

Teacher pensions don’t tend to grab headlines like for-profit colleges or cheating teachers, but they have serious implications for teacher quality. As Bill Tucker wrote earlier this year in a legislator’s guide to pension reform, pension policies can affect whether an energetic and effective teacher chooses to stay in the classroom after Continue Reading »