Keep the Promise: Protect School Employee Pensions

Pension Resources:   Take Action: Email your state legislators. Urge them to oppose attacks on school employee pensions.   Volunteer to support PSEA's campaign to protect school employee pensions (login required)   Pensions 101 (talking points, background information, etc.)   Video: Attack on Our Pensions    Voice Insert: March 2013

Legislative Updates:

May 7: Gov. Corbett and his supporters hold a press conference to promote his pension plan, introduced in the General Assembly by Sen. Brubaker and Rep. Ross. Read PSEA's press release. Email your state legislators, asking them to oppose the governor's plan.

April 26: PA Sen. Mike Brubaker and Rep. Chris Ross issued co-sponsorship memos, asking their colleagues to sign-on to the governor's plan. This is the last step before bills are introduced.

Gov. Corbett's 401(k) plan will sink our pension fund and retirement

Gov. Tom Corbett's pension proposal will cut current member benefits by 26 percent ($16,166) per year. His proposal also includes a risky 401(k)-type plan that will decrease benefits for new members by 36 percent.

Beware: it will

• Increase Pennsylvania's pension debt,
• Destabilize the entire pension system, and
• Force future cuts to current member benefits.

 
It's simple math: Two retirement systems are more expensive than one.
The governor is planning to implement a risky 401(k)-type retirement savings plan for future hires. This means there will be two retirement systems: an inferior 401(k) system for future hires and a defined benefit pension plan for current employees. Failed attempts and numerous actuarial studies in other states show that our state can't expect to operate the two retirement systems for the price of one.

Creating an inferior alternative pension system for new employees destabilizes the defined benefit plan and introduces fatal flaws that turn it into a ticking time bomb.
It cuts off funding to the plan, decreases investment earnings for the fund, and increases taxes.

The Corbett 401(k) proposal is more expensive for Pennsylvania taxpayers than the current system.
The Corbett scheme will increase the pension debt. PSERS unfunded liabilities will need to be paid off regardless of what happens to new hires.

Learn more.    
 

Pension News

Keystone Research Center releases new pension primer
On April 16, Keystone Research Center released its latest pension primer: There You Go Again: Governor's Proposal Delays Public Pension Payments, Repeating Short-Sighted Practices That Drove Up Pension Debt (PDF).

As policymakers, media, school employees, and citizens evaluate Gov. Corbett's pension proposal, the Keystone Research Center released a series of short “pension primers” to explain complex details at the heart of the pension debate. Find the complete set of primers at www.keystoneresearch.org/pensions.

Related News:

• Corbett pension plan costs taxpayers more (May 7, 2013)
• Corbett administration continues to mislead on pension issue (March 27, 2013)
• Corbett Budget Secretary acknowledges pension switch for new workers won't affect Commonwealth's debt (Feb. 18, 2013)
• Corbett launches attack on school employee pensions (Feb. 5, 2013)
      

 Talking about your pension

• Gov. Corbett's Pension Proposal Will Seriously Harm Our Retirement Security (March 2013)
• What is PSERS? (March 2013)
• What happened? Why are Pennsylvania’s pension costs to increase so dramatically? (November 2012)
• Defined Benefit (DB) Pensions Are Better (November 2012)
• An Introduction to Your PSERS Defined Benefit Pension (January 2013)
• 5 Facts you should know about your pension (January 2013)
• 5 facts you can tell your neighbors about your pension (January 2013)
  
   

Find more talking points and background information