New NJ Law Intends to Limit Transitions Among Schools for Kids with Disablities
February 11, 2013Upcoming Events
February 12, 2013Quote of the Day
Here’s Rishawn Biddle‘s analysis of New Jersey’s teachers’ pension deficits:
New Jersey’s teachers’ pension, for example, reports a $11 billion pension deficit (as of 2011, the latest year available); this doesn’t include any unrealized gains or losses (though the pension would report a $2 billion decline in assets between 2011 and 2012). But when one uses the Moody’s calculation — which assumes a rate of return that is 2.5 points lower and more-realistic than the 7.95 percent assumed by the Garden State pension — the actual pension deficit is more likely to be $15 billion. New Jersey districts — and taxpayers — would have to pay out an additional $878 million a year over 17 years just to make up the underfunding. That’s a 25 percent increase over the $3.2 billion Garden State districts paid out in teachers’ benefits in 2009-2010. This, by the way, doesn’t include the $14 billion in unfunded retired teacher healthcare costs (as of 2010, the latest year reported by the state treasury department) that must be borne by taxpayers — or the even larger $24 billion in future retirement healthcare liabilities for teachers still working (including Baby Boomers heading out of the profession over the next few years).