STRS and Debates over Pensions
A number of recent reports and newspaper articles have focused on public pensions in California, including CalSTS. Here we have gathered several of them, including responses from both CalSTRS itself and from the UF. (LATEST UPDATE AT THE END)
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office recently released a video on public pensions, and the link is here: http://www.lao.ca.gov/webcasts/2011/pub_retirement_bens/pub_retirement_bens_021011.aspx.
CalSTRS responded in a letter, available here: STRS-Response-to-LAO.
California’s “Little Hoover Institute” also released a substantial report on pensions. Their press release is here: Little-Hoover-Press-Release. And the full 100+ page report is here: CALSTRS-LittleHooverRpt.
The UF’s own Deborah Dahl-Shanks, our resident STRS expert, sent a letter to all faculty seeking to debunk some STRS myths. That letter is reprinted here: STRS FACTS.
Lastly, here is the text of a letter-to-the-editor printed in the San Jose Mercury News, written by STRS Deputy CEO Ed Derman:
CalSTRS has assets to pay benefits for years
Your article (Page A1, Feb. 22) points out the long-term funding challenges facing CalSTRS, but suggests that CalSTRS is on the verge of running out of funds and cannot meet its obligations, when, in fact, we have assets to pay benefits for at least the next 30 years.
For more than 97 years, CalSTRS has provided retirement security for generations of California educators while never missing a payment — even through the Great Depression.
The CalSTRS pension fund is not in immediate crisis. The long-term funding health of our plan is improving. CalSTRS investment return of 8.2 percent for the past 20 years — and last year’s 12.7 percent return — exceeds our assumptions. Our benefits are paid for and funded for decades.
What Marcia Fritz calls a “path of destruction” is an overreaction to the cyclical nature of economic recessions. What would be truly destructive would be to eliminate retirement security for the state’s educators who do not receive Social Security for their classroom service.
Ed Derman, Deputy chief executive officer CalSTRS
Here’s the latest….
The State Worker: With pensions under attack, unions
fight back
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published Thursday, May. 05, 2011
Here comes the pension push-back.
After more than three years feeling like a collective political punching bag, public employee unions have mounted a multifaceted campaign to defend their pensions and fend off “attacks” on their members.
A few events this week illustrate what’s going on:
Monday: The California State Employees Association started recruiting retiree members for CalPERS “ambassadors” program, which starts later this month.
Volunteers “will receive education, training, and communications so they can better understand, and in turn better communicate, the facts about their retirement benefits,” CSEA’s website says.
Tuesday: About 50 retired government workers organized by the Retired Public Employees Association of California lobbied lawmakers at the Capitol.
The State Worker shadowed six RPEA members to Sen. Mark DeSaulnier’s office, where they met with the Concord Democrat’s chief of staff, Krista Pfefferkorn.
The group pressed facts, such as how CalPERS pensions currently average about $26,600 per retiree per year. (State pensions now average about $30,000 annually.)
And, they said, pension spiking and other clear abuses must end, but those instances and a relatively small number of six-figure public retirements have been leveraged to “attack” public employees.
“You listen to the media and you’d think we’re all getting $100,000 per year, said Cleave Govan, who worked 41 years for Caltrans before retiring in 2005.
They wanted DeSaulier to oppose any legislation that would fundamentally change defined benefits for fear that it might lead to changes to their benefits, too, such as reduced COLAs or higher health premiums.
Pfefferkorn, who noted that she’s a government employee, was sympathetic.
Wednesday: A coalition of state government unions brought its “Pension Truth Squad” to the Capitol’s west steps. The group of public employees and retirees talked about their modest pensions.
A few hours later, the coalition, Californians for Retirement Security, fired up dontscapegoatus.com. The site blasts prominent pension rollback proponents with Photoshopped goat horns on their pictures and details about their connections to each other and special interests.
The targets include Fair Oaks Republican Roger Niello and Marcia Fritz, head of a local group that made a big media splash with its database of public retirees who receive six-figure pensions.
“While California continues to reel from the recession caused by Wall Street and big banks,” the website says, “some politicians and special interest groups are blaming teachers, firefighters, peace officers, and other public employees for the state’s budget woes.”
Demonizing political opponents is casual sport in Sacramento. The new website’s Twitter feed pays homage to it: #demongoats.
