Current
teacher pension plans back - load benefits to the last 5 to 10 years of service, mainly because benefit formulas are based on final average salary calculations that do not adjust for inflation.
Not exact matches
In keeping the existing defined benefit
pension plans, policymakers are choosing to preserve a system where
teachers and their employers are contributing more than
teachers will ever receive
back in benefits.
Teachers in states like Texas or California are enrolled in
back - loaded defined benefit
pension plans, while public - sector employees in those states have access to more portable defined contribution (DC)
plans or a hybrid
plan.
This is a key reason why
teacher pension plans are so
back - loaded, and it means that
pensions reward later - career service much more heavily than early - career service.
Because
pension plans are
back - loaded, attrition risk is the possibility that a
teacher won't stick around long enough to qualify for the larger benefits waiting for those who stay.
We're in the midst of a slow shift away from
back - loaded
teacher pension plans.
Worse, these
back - end salary bumps are also not doing much to shape the retention decisions for those
teachers who do reach them, at least not according to the state's
pension plan.
New Jersey is not one of them; it continues to enroll all
teachers in a
back - loaded defined benefit
pension plan and does not offer its
teachers a more portable option.
Charter school
teachers are some of the biggest losers under current
pension plans, because very few charter school
teachers have worked long enough to qualify for the
back - end benefits offered by traditional
pension plans.
As I noted on Twitter, the $ 3.4 billion in
back pay is equivalent to about 1 / 8th of the
teacher pension plan's $ 24.9 billion unfunded liability.
1912: NEA endorses Women's Suffrage 1919: NEA members in New Jersey lead the way to the nation's first state
pension; by 1945, every state had a
pension plan in effect 1941: NEA successfully lobbied Congress for special funding for public schools near military bases 1945: NEA lobbied for the G.I. Bill of Rights to help returning soldiers continue their education 1958: NEA helps gain passage of the National Defense Education Act 1964: NEA lobbies to pass the Civil Rights Act 1968: NEA leads an effort to establish the Bilingual Education Act 1974: NEA
backs a case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court that proposes to make unlawful the firing of pregnant
teachers or forced maternity leave 1984: NEA fights for and wins passage of a federal retirement equity law that provides the means to end sex discrimination against women in retirement funds 2000s: NEA has lobbied for changes to the No Child Left Behind Act 2009: NEA delegates to the Representative Assembly pass a resolution that opposes the discriminatory treatment of same - sex couple
Over at Education Next, Drs. Robert M. Costrell and Michael Podgursky have produced thorough reviews of the problems with
back - loaded, defined - benefit
pension plans, including how these
plans punish public school
teachers that change localities during their careers.
State
pension plans assume that less than one - in - five
teachers will survive long enough to truly benefit from today's
back - loaded
teacher pension plans.
Further, even those early childhood
teachers who are eligible to enroll in a traditional
teacher pension plan are still unlikely to benefit from the rewards promised — their tendency to be lower - paid and more mobile keeps them from reaping the
back - end rewards of a state
plan.
While a majority of states still trap
teachers in
back - loaded defined benefit
pension plans, some have created more portable options.