Posted on 07/18/2011 1:39:33 PM PDT by Gopher Broke
July 18, 2011
Dear
Governor McDonnell made it clear on CNBC that a pension battle lays ahead. Please listen to what he says from 1:37 to 3:51 relating to VRS.
http://virginiapolitics.tumblr.com/post/7580306962/gov-bob-mcdonnell-made-his-pitch-for-taking
It appears to me that the Governor is wrong on three counts.
First, as you know state workers now pay the employee contribution.
Second, almost all states have defined benefit plans, as do some private sector entities. Please see the article below that appeared in Financial Times on 4/25/11.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/04/25/why-young-workers-want-a-good-old-fashioned-pension/
Only Alaska and DC do not have defined benefit plans for teachers. Please see this study:
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/CharacteristicsLargePubEdPensionPlans2010.pdf
Third, Virginia’s plan is not “generous” when compared to other plans. The same study (link above) shows that our multiplier and the replacement income generated by the formula are low. A teacher who retires with 30 years of experience receives 51% of average final salary. This is not generous from a comparative perspective. It ranks rather low.
Whether or not our Governor is successful in his attempt to eliminate our traditional pension and change it to a personal risk account may well be determined by which party controls the Virginia Senate after November’s elections. The only Republican Senator who voted right on this issue in the last session was William Wampler, and he is retiring.
On a different topic, If ever there was a must-read piece for parents and school employees this is it:
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/07/diane_ravitch_on_edelmans_astr.html
This piece is right-on, but Ravitch isn’t connecting the dots when she says:
“I don't know why hedge fund managers are so interested in controlling education policy, but there is no doubt about their eagerness to commit large sums of money to get rid of due process, seniority, and collective bargaining, and to tie teachers' evaluations to test scores. There is nothing inherent in being a hedge fund manager or a successful entrepreneur that would make one an education expert, yet these guys seem determined to revise state laws as they relate to teachers. The part I don't understand is why they think that what they are doing will improve education.”
I’ve been close enough to the action to know that what motivates the hedge fund managers is the prospect of replacing public education with for-profit corporations. They see a lot of money to be made by investing in these companies. They could care less about improving public education. It’s all about the money.
Thank you,
Robley Jones VEA GR&R
“A teacher who retires with 30 years of experience receives 51% of average final salary. This is not generous from a comparative perspective.”
Are you VEA people nuts??? I retired from a Fortune 10 company with 30 years and got 20% of my salary.... 51% payout is VERY GENEROUS, compared to the private sector!!
“A teacher who retires with 30 years of experience receives 51% of average final salary. This is not generous from a comparative perspective.”
The defenders of pension plans speak in misleading terms. Most teacher plans would pay a higher benefit rate than 51 percent but other details are important such as the COLA, minimum retirement age, highest average salary details, and contribution rates. The average age of teacher retirement in Colorado is 57 with 75 percent of HAS. The COLA has been reduced from 3.5 percent to 2 percent but there is litigation about the COLA so the issue is not settled. The HAS period was 3 years but it is now 5 years. There are also many other goodies such as service credit purchase.
Plus, there are no retirement deductions from a pension. I know several retired teachers whose retirement check is actually larger than their take-home pay was. The myth of underpaid teachers should have died 50 years ago.
To put it into perspective, my teacher neighbor here in Ohio complained to me that after SB5 was implemented by Gov. Kasich (Thank You Governor!!! Good first step!) she saw $300 less in her monthly paycheck.
This is the amount that teachers in Ohio are finally paying for their health care and pension - which tells me that multiplied by the number of teachers in Ohio, that is how much we the taxpayers have been giving to them - while no one is giving the rest of us anything.
And teachers across the country retire at 55 (or younger) with 51% of their normal salary - paid for by We the People.
WHy do these folks not understand why we are so ticked off? My neighbor expected me to sympathize with her plight. In the interest of good neighbor relations, I didn’t say what I wanted to say to her.
Especially since BOTH my husband and myself are unemployed, and debating giving up on the job hunting to try to survive the rest of our lives on our savings.
“30 years of experience”
Actually, it’d be 24 years, considering they’re working about 9 months of each year. Not bad in my book... just as lucrative as what a typical military retiree receives... and the risk to life and limb to the military member is far greater.
Stop whining, teachers.
I say if the VEA is pissed off at Gov. McDonnell... then more power to the Guv!!!
My mother is a VEA member and she bitches nonstop how much she’s underpaid...the union keeps telling Virginia teachers they are one of the lowest-paid teachers in the nation.
She is conservative, to a point, but is fierce about her pension, which she “earned” in her estimation. I asked her why the private sector should kick in over half of her retirement, and she responded, because we EARNED per our CONTRACT and THEY DON’T PAY US ENOUGH TO MAKE US SAVE FOR OUR PENSIONS...we are on the front lines of the single-family raised “youths” that manage to come to class, before dropping out.
I asked her, what will teachers do if there isn’t enough revenue to pay their lifetime pensions and benefits, she said that they would strike, like Europe, as she thinks the Euro-Socialist model is better than the US. Teachers are “valued” over there, not in VA.
Her final reply was what was the last resort if the US could not meet its pension/debt requirements, her response...”Sell the F*king Golden Gate Bridge to the G*D*mn Chinese or Russians, for all I care...I want my money and we (teachers) EARNED IT....”
There is no arguing with the brainwashed, even your own mother. We are taxed to death to pay government salaries, benefits and pensions...it is about to end, and the correction will be ugly.
(direct quote from the article)
“It’s all about the money” - Robley Jones
You said it, Robley. Teachers unions are about power, not kids. Go shove gay/AIDS Ed and global warming up your fat, unionized, lazy a$$.
I used to be friends with our retired chief of police. He’s evidently a RAT who became a RINO through marriage. What tore it with me was when we were attending a Republican candidate’s night, he went off on how the “women and children would go before the pension that he had earned.” Since public pensions are public, I looked his up. He’s been “retired” for about ten years and his pension today is approximately three times what he was making at the point where he retired, Oh, and he won’t leave the state because if he does, his gold-plated state-provided medical care goes away.
“Third, Virginia’s plan is not “generous” when compared to other plans. The same study (link above) shows that our multiplier and the replacement income generated by the formula are low. A teacher who retires with 30 years of experience receives 51% of average final salary. This is not generous from a comparative perspective. It ranks rather low.”
Let me guess, compared to other states that are ALSO going bankrupt due to high pension costs.
30 years ... hmmmm ... so you work from 25 to 55 retire, live to 85. you are getting an additional 50% of your last years salary, likely to be a good bit higher than day 1 salary ... this would be about 80% of the total salary cost. PHEW! not cheap.
Abolish and replace with 401k style defined contribution pensions?
I guess the entitled bureaucrats and the low-end welfare class are the smart ones. Us dummies in the private sector who have to produce to survive are the real jacka$$es.
Government makes nothing, but want to be paid for life, making nothing. Illegals have more rights than citizens. It is an upside down world, and just think, all the Mexican/Muslim/Marxist/Unions are all in cahoots against the US private sector...
I haven't posted here in months, but I have to point out that this statement is misleading.
Yes, state workers do now pay the employee contribution. New hires have been doing that for some time. Those who have been vested in the system are now also paying that 5%.
And they were given a 5% increase in salary to compensate for the difference.
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