Free Republic

A report urging reform of the public-pension benefits given to Colorado educators was skewered Wednesday by the chairman of the House Education Committee, himself a retired teacher. Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, drew applause from a standing-room only crowd when he closely questioned Michael Mannino, a University of Colorado professor who helped write the report. ...

The debate about defined benefit pensions in K-12 education has focused on unfunded liabilities rather than appropriate levels of retirement compensation. Public K-12 employees typically retire at much younger ages with more replacement income and better inflation protection than private sector counterparts. School districts use contribution rates derived from uncertain assumptions about pension plan returns as substitutes for estimating realistic retirement compensation levels. The contribution rates ignore the considerable value of risk assumption that public employee pension plans provide to career employees. ...