Keep the Promise: Protect School Employee Pensions
Legislative Updates:
June 19: Senate Finance Committee plans to vote on an amended version of the governor's pension plan that would cost nearly $38 billion more than the current plan. Email your state legislator now.
May 29: Senate Finance Committee hearing on the governor's pension plan. Read Jerry Oleksiak's testimony.
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.
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.
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.
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Talking about your pension
Find more talking points and background information