Longer teacher tenure coming?

From the Santa Fe NewMexican.com - by Kate Nash - Pension plans for public employees are likely to see some dramatic changes after the New Mexico Legislature's upcoming session, say lawmakers working to keep the retirement system solvent. Among ideas proposed so far are making teachers work up to 10 years longer before they can retire, increasing employee contributions to retirement funds and using more realistic assumptions about investment returns. Legislators serving on a task force say it has become increasingly apparent that over the long term, the state cannot continue to pay what it has been providing to retired public workers. In the next two years alone, thousands of government employees are expected to file claims for benefits, including 13,700 in the educational retirement system. New Mexico's pension plan for educators has an unfunded liability of nearly $5 billion, and its managers have a goal of getting 80 percent of that funded within 30 years, although Educational Retirement Board Director Jan Goodwin said the plan will be able to pay retired members for "many years to come." To shore up finances, the Educational Retirement Board is considering making some teachers work longer and having them divert an additional half-percent of their salary toward retirement. The board is scheduled to vote on the proposed changes Dec. 10. The changes would also need approval of the Legislature, which convenes in mid-January. Still, during the last fiscal year, PERA had a negative cash flow of about $150 million. That's the difference between what it took in from employee and employer contributions versus what it paid out in benefits and expenses, Read more

Longer teacher tenure coming?