The Manhattan Institute has published an article about the impact of retirement benefits for teachers on overall school spending. During the 1990’s boom, states increased retirement benefits for teachers but did not accompany these increase with responsible funding plans.
Key findings:
- Taxpayer contributions to teachers’ retirement plans are expected to grow substantially over the next decade. But the under-funding shortfall is so large that aggregate pension debt will also grow.
- Per-pupil spending on equipment, facilities, and property fell by 26% between 2000 and 2013, likely resultign in a growing backlog of expensive repairs and replacements that need to be made sometime down the road.
- The vast majority of taxpayer contributions into teachers’ pension plans are now used to pay down pension debt owed for past service rather than to pay for new benefits earned by today’s teachers.
