Teacher pension benefits, like most other public and private retirement plans, have increased in cost over the last few decades. But because school districts often have to pay pension costs from a fixed pool of money, those cost increases have had a wide range of affects, sometimes even negatively affecting the educators who will rely on their pensions to provide financial security when they retire. It’s vital for educators and policymakers to understand how funding for retirement benefits works (and sometimes falls short). But a survey commissioned by the Equable Institute and conducted by the EdWeek Research Center found that many school board members and district leaders who influence budgeting lack basic knowledge about how pensions are funded.
Funding for public retirement systems requires investments from states and school districts in order to keep pace with costs. Unfunded liabilities — or pension debt — can have a broad impact on K-12 education funding. Policymakers’ efforts to address pension debt may lead them to make budgetary trade-offs where they have to decide between contributions to retirement systems and spending on K-12 priorities, such as programs for students.
In this webinar, panelists will explain the fundamentals of pensions to inform both your own retirement planning and your thinking about their role in the overall landscape for K-12 education.
