I’m not sure the math works out too well for them in this. Saving $31.5 Million to plug a $327 Million hole? From the look of this they could close every school and not have enough money to pay pensions. Perhaps they should look into dumping the pension altogether to the Fed pension security fund and just re-org the whole thing under new contracts. If the teachers strike, fire the lot.
62 inner city kids per class? Why even bother?
IMO, the city has no choice but to declare bankruptcy.
Pensions were always just a way to hide expenses by dumping them onto future generations. Well, we are now the future generation that has to pay the expenses of past union contracts.
The only long-term remedy would be to outlaw pensions for new hires, and give them 401Ks instead, but that would mean paying pensions for past retirees AND putting money into 401Ks now.