Teachers, are you ready for the next assault on our profession?

[MadHound]

It appears that it isn't enough to demonize us, cut our pay or force us to work longer hours for little or no pay. Nope, now they want to come after our pensions as well.

"Teacher pensions may not sound like a sexy or even high-profile issue, but keep reading: they're threatening the fiscal health of many states and could cost you - yes, you - thousands of dollars. And like the savings and loan crisis at the end of 1980s or the current housing-market mess, insiders see big trouble ahead in the next few years and are starting to sound warnings.

Today there is an almost $500 billion shortfall for funding teacher pensions, and that gap is growing. Why should you care? Because ultimately taxpayers are on the hook for that money. But the problem doesn't just end there. The way teacher pensions operate is badly suited to today's teacher workforce, where 30-year careers are no longer the norm. The current set-up penalizes teachers who move between states, switch to private or public charter schools that do not participate in the pension system or leave teaching altogether. Meanwhile, it becomes financial suicide for teachers to change careers after a certain point even if they no longer want to teach or are not good at it."

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20101111/us_time/08599203070800>

I swear, many in this country won't be satisfied until teachers are eliminated from the classroom entirely. First we're overpaid, now our pensions are going to be budget busters. Sometimes I wonder why I got into this profession in the first place.

[leveymg]

1. The Wall Street sharks smell lots of blood and want to rip into this one.

They sense there's lots of money to be made in converting safe, sound state and local pension funds into privatized fly-by-night scam operations that don't pay out.

That's what's driving this whole thing.

[MadHound]

4. Yep, you hit the nail on the head,

And in the process teachers are going to get demonized as greedy moneygrubbers who don't deserve their meager salary, much less a pension. Hell, that article even compared this mythical pension problem to the subprime mortgage mess. It's insane.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. And so many teachers are not eligible for Social Security

This is just criminal.

[Tatiana]

8. We certainly aren't in Illinois. We participate in TRS which means no social security.

AND the new teachers entering the profession will be getting an even LOWER pension than current retired certified personnel thanks to our state legislature/governor.

[sufrommich]

9. What is TRS ? nt

[Tatiana]

11. Teachers' Retirement System

http://trs.illinois.gov/

[Reader Rabbit]

15. Yup.

My mom taught for nearly 40 years, primarily in underfunded schools in low-income communities. She paid into STRS and, when she could afford it, into a tax-sheltered annuity. Now she lives from paycheck to paycheck, terrified that her retirement money is going to run out. It's criminal.

[Starry Messenger]

3. Just like the movie "Wall Street"

Gorden Gecko and and the Blue Star union pensions. This whole thing is about money. Any revenue stream is up for grabs.

[msongs]

5. in 15 years teachers will be minimum wage workers and corporations will be skimming all the money nt

[MadHound]

6. I think that's exactly what they're shooting for,

That and the dumbing down of the next generation by providing them with a substandard education. The powers in this country no longer want citizens, but serfs.

[Dappleganger]

14. And there's nothing better than a demoralized teacher to bring out the best in children.

:sarcasm:

[Tatiana]

7. I never would have thought this dismantling would have occurred under Democratic leadership.

We're in the final year of our contract and I expect the upcoming contract negotiations will be contentious, to say the least.

But now we are facing underfunding or raiding of our pensions and new incoming teachers (in IL at least) are going to be facing reduced pensions thanks to our legislature.

I'm not even close to retirement, but all this news is very depressing. How are we to attract the best and brightest when they are treated like chattel? What do we say to those who were encouraged to get advanced degrees to learn more innovative instructional strategies and techniques, only to find that they are not rewarded in any way for their time, effort, and thousands of dollars they have put forth?

[Uben]

10. A look at the future.....

In this day and age, computers and machines do most of the work. I foresee the day when a classroom will look more like a lecture hall with one video-taped teacher instructing millions of students. Grading done by computers, of course, and exercise and discipline put on the shoulders of parents. This would eliminate the need for large schools, tens of thousands of teachers, textbooks, teacher's pensions, and expensive sports programs. In the future, the schools as we know them today will not exist.

In place of teachers, only attendants will be needed in classrooms. Heck, schools may be eliminated altogether and teaching may be done soley at home on computers!

Never happen? Never say never. The world we know today is changing so fast, no one can know what lies ahead.

[MadHound]

13. And that's when we will wind up with a very stupid populace.

Teaching simply can't be done by a computer, not in the manner you describe. Large swathes of students simply can't learn or excel in that format.

If your vision does come about, we're going to be consigning our country to becoming an idiocrocy.

[w8liftinglady]

17. exactly-or an aristocracy..where the dirty masses don't need to learn

Hell...some of my partner's students go from house to house to sleep...let alone having a freaking computer to learn from.

[MadHound]

19. Yep, you've got it,

The rich will send their kids to more traditional, well funded private schools, while the rest of us will have to make do with dumbed down public education.

I have found it truly astonishing what some of my students have to deal with, yet still manage to learn. Of course for many in their position, school becomes the only stability and sanity they know, so they actually love school.

[Uben]

18. No doubt!

I don't see it getting better. Budget deficits will continue to erode the American education until it's left with a bare-bones infrastructure and personell will be trimmed to a minimum. Only the rich will be able to afford any semblance of a good education, as that will be considered an optional preference.

[Dappleganger]

12. At the rate they're going, there won't be any union around to help them fight, either.

[MadHound]

16. True, this is a multi-pronged attack on teachers and public education.

Not only that, but it is bipartisan as well.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

20. The real issue is if the pensions are adequately funded, to include health care

If they are, then there is no issue. If they are not, it needs to be made up as soon as possible.

One of the reasons I am a fan of defined contribution pensions is that it avoids these issues and allows both job movement and career changes without killing the persons retirement.

[stray cat]

21. BUDGET CUTS - the only thing protecting teacher jobs is tax money and discretionary spending

[Bigmack]

22. When I started teaching... 1970...

teacher pensions were a joke. Everybody knew the real pensions were in the private sector.

Now.. well, they're not such a joke anymore. Not because they've gone up - we get no COLA - but because the private sector pensions have all gone south.

I've worked on teacher strikes, and the Powers That Be do NOT want to fuck with teacher pensions. You have never seen pissed off until you have seen a pissed-off 2nd grade teacher. I had to peel one off the front of a bus bringing scabs in. She was hanging on to the wipers and screaming some wild shit at the driver and passengers. They teach Fairness and Playing Well With Others all day, and they know what those things look like, and they still have a sense of outrage over injustice.

Big differences between teachers - retired or not - and the Teabaggers. Teachers can fucking read. Teachers can follow legislation. Teachers contribute to campaigns. Teachers are active. Teachers have a memory longer than a TV commercial.

Fuck with teacher pensions at your peril.