By Denise Jennex
This month Governor Schwarzeneggar gave his State of the State speech and his 2005-06 state budget proposal. While it is still very early in the budget year this gives a glimpse of where the state is headed and where public education must fight to maintain our funding. Here are a few areas that could directly affect you as members:
The Governor has made a proposal that would affect all public employees, whether they are in Cal PERS or STRS hired after July 1, 2007. It would replace the current defined benefit plan with a 401(k)-style retirement plan. Employees would not be guaranteed a set level of monthly retirement benefits as they are now. It does not impact current PERS or STRS members, but creates a two-tiered retirement system, giving different benefits to existing workers and those hired after July 1, 2007.
CTA opposes any retirement system changes that make it harder to attract and keep quality teachers in our classrooms. The Governor’s proposal does just that.
The Governor’s plan is the same as President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. Like Bush’s plan it is a risky idea that will cost more money, cut benefits, and undermine the retirement pensions of those who are currently employed. His plan could cause additional cuts to public school classrooms, by shifting costs currently paid by the state to local school districts. The only people who will benefit under the Governor’s retirement system are his big business pals on Wall Street – not teachers, nurses and firefighters.
As to the Governor’s Merit Pay or Pay-for-Performance Plan, he has offered no details of how his plan will work, and without any additional revenues, it simply makes no sense. Changing the pay structure without putting more money into the system is ludicrous.
All teachers merit good pay. According to the RAND Corporation report that was released earlier this week, California teachers are among the lowest paid in the country.
Pay for performance plans do not have a good track record. Just a couple of years ago, California suspended monetary awards to teachers whose schools increased their API scores because too many schools were succeeding and the state couldn’t afford the up to $25,000 awards. In Denver, CO, the school district and the teachers union have been working on a performance pay plan for nine years, but are still waiting for voters to approve a $25 million tax increase to fund it. In addition, there’s no evidence that performance pay plans improve student achievement.