Today representatives of teachers' associations, school districts, and the state teachers' pension plan spoke at a State Assembly hearing to support reducing the pension's $71 billion unfunded amount.
Jack Ehnes with the California State Teachers' Retirement System or CalSTRS says if the retirement system is to be fully-funded within 30 years, all of the groups and the State of California must increase contributions by more than $4 billion-per-year.
"Recessions took such a sizeable bite out of the assets of the system or any system like that, you must increase the contributions and usually quickly to change that path."
Jennifer Baker with the California Teacher's Association says membership will support a fair solution that includes the State of California increasing its contribution after years of falling short.
"Having a secure retirement is of paramount value along with the piece of mind it will bring to our current and future members and retirees," Baker says.
Baker and a representative of the California School Administrators spoke at the first in a series of Assembly hearings at the California State Capitol Wednesday.
Based on the current value of the fund's assets, Governor Jerry Brown says the shortfall is actually $80 billion.
Together, employers, employees, and state contributions make up about 40-percent of the Cal STRS pension fund. Investments make up the rest.
Cal STRS will develop funding scenarios for all contributors to add $4.2 billion to the fund this year with an increase every year after that.
Today's hearing at the Capitol was the first in a series. The next one could be held within a few weeks.
October 21, 2021Superintendent Jorge Aguilar called the vaccine requirement “a path forward to keeping our schools open.” The mandate takes effect Nov. 30, seven months before the state requirement begins.
October 15, 2021The state superintendent, other officials look at challenges, solutions to creating equity for all students and families.
September 13, 2021Roughly 1,600 students at Sacramento City Unified schools have chosen to continue learning at home through the pandemic. But most of the kids remain without teacher assignments, and parents say the district has left many questions unanswered.
August 11, 2021California will require that all teachers and school staff be vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19, becoming the first state to impose such measures ahead of the new school year.
July 15, 2021A Sacramento City school teacher was recorded using racial slurs in the classroom. But one question from organizers still lingers: In a district that has mandatory anti-bias training for teachers, how could this incident happen?
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today