PA Principals Association recently participated, along with several other education groups, in a meeting with the LNP Editorial Board (Lancaster newspaper) regarding the Pennsylvania pension crisis. The article (link) appears below.

THE ISSUE

 Pennsylvania’s two large pension funds — for teachers and state employees (the latter including state lawmakers, on the theory that they work) — are significantly underfunded. According to their own reports, they have a combined $53 billion in unfunded liabilities. In a March report, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators put the two funds at only 41 percent of annual required contribution, second-worst in the nation.

Five representatives of groups that speak for public school administrators and school board members told the LNP Editorial Board on Monday that Pennsylvania’s pension crisis must be addressed as part of this year’s budget.

“If you increase basic education (funding from the state to Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed 50 percent), in the absence of solving the pension crisis, it’s going to be gobbled up by pension costs,” said Joseph Clapper, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals. Clapper, who retired after eight years as superintendent of the Quaker Valley School District about a year ago, said he understands this, having worked on his final budget just 10 months ago.

Click here for the full article.

Source: LancasterOnline, Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2015 6:00 a.m., The LNP Editorial Board.