Free Republic

Thanks to House Republicans, a major school pension reform passed by the state Senate last week could be undone. As reported by CapCon, Senators defied government employee unions by voting to close the chronically underfunded “defined benefit” school pension system to new employees, starting in 2013. If the House follows through, this would be arguably the most transformational state budget reform since Gov. John Engler signed a similar measure for state workers back in 1996. That measure has helped taxpayers avoid some $4.3 billion in unfunded liability since then. If the House fails, every new school employee hired going forward...