I have always been interested in publicly backed pension programs. I have a friend that is a Dallas Police Officer and his pension fund has been rocked the past few years. I read somewhere that 60% of every dollar taken in by the Illinois state income tax collector is distributed to support public pensions.
Another old college friend of mine (has a PHD) is a second grade school teacher in the Los Angeles school district. They went on strike and recently settled- read this article and remember it in another 5-10 years when the "obligation rooster" comes home to roost. LAISD is working at a half billion dollar deficit currently and their pension programs seems to be on the skids...
Los Angeles teachers approve contract, put end to 6-day strike
They return to school today; smaller classes, 6% raise part of deal
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and BRIAN MELLEY
The Associated Press
CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES — Teachers overwhelmingly approved a new contract Tuesday and planned to return to the classroom after a six-day strike over funding and staffing in the nation’s second-largest school district.
Although all votes hadn’t been counted, preliminary figures showed that a “vast supermajority” of some 30,000 educators voted in favor of the tentative deal, “therefore ending the strike and heading back to schools [Wednesday],” said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, accompanied by leaders of the union and the Los Angeles Unified School District, announced the agreement at City Hall a few hours after a 21-hour bargaining session ended before dawn. The deal was broadly described by officials at the news conference as including a 6 percent pay hike and a commitment to reduce class sizes over four years.
Specifics provided later by the district and the union included the addition of more than 600 nursing positions over the next three school years.
Additional counselors and librarians were also part of the increase in support staff.
Marianne O’Brien said the need for additional support staff was one of the main reasons she walked picket lines.
“This is not just for teachers.
It’s also for counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers,” said O’Brien, who teaches 10th-grade English.
Clashes over pay, class sizes and support-staff levels in the district with 640,000 students led to its first strike in 30 years and prompted the staffing of classrooms with substitute teachers and administrators.
The district maintained that the union’s demands could bankrupt the school system, which is projecting a half-billion-dollar deficit this budget year and has billions obligated for pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers.
“The issue has always been: How do we pay for it?” said district Superintendent Austin Beutner. “That issue does not go away now that we have a contract.
We can’t solve 40 years of underinvestment in public education in just one week or just one contract.”
Another old college friend of mine (has a PHD) is a second grade school teacher in the Los Angeles school district. They went on strike and recently settled- read this article and remember it in another 5-10 years when the "obligation rooster" comes home to roost. LAISD is working at a half billion dollar deficit currently and their pension programs seems to be on the skids...
Los Angeles teachers approve contract, put end to 6-day strike
They return to school today; smaller classes, 6% raise part of deal
By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and BRIAN MELLEY
The Associated Press
CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES — Teachers overwhelmingly approved a new contract Tuesday and planned to return to the classroom after a six-day strike over funding and staffing in the nation’s second-largest school district.
Although all votes hadn’t been counted, preliminary figures showed that a “vast supermajority” of some 30,000 educators voted in favor of the tentative deal, “therefore ending the strike and heading back to schools [Wednesday],” said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, accompanied by leaders of the union and the Los Angeles Unified School District, announced the agreement at City Hall a few hours after a 21-hour bargaining session ended before dawn. The deal was broadly described by officials at the news conference as including a 6 percent pay hike and a commitment to reduce class sizes over four years.
Specifics provided later by the district and the union included the addition of more than 600 nursing positions over the next three school years.
Additional counselors and librarians were also part of the increase in support staff.
Marianne O’Brien said the need for additional support staff was one of the main reasons she walked picket lines.
“This is not just for teachers.
It’s also for counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers,” said O’Brien, who teaches 10th-grade English.
Clashes over pay, class sizes and support-staff levels in the district with 640,000 students led to its first strike in 30 years and prompted the staffing of classrooms with substitute teachers and administrators.
The district maintained that the union’s demands could bankrupt the school system, which is projecting a half-billion-dollar deficit this budget year and has billions obligated for pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers.
“The issue has always been: How do we pay for it?” said district Superintendent Austin Beutner. “That issue does not go away now that we have a contract.
We can’t solve 40 years of underinvestment in public education in just one week or just one contract.”
