I wrote a blog post back in October of 2017 about the state of teacher pensions.

Teachers unions need to stop demanding so much in their negotiations with states.

My conclusion:

“Teachers will need to be super flexible in negotiations if they want to save the [pension] system. Taking a hard line is selfish, and will simply destroy the retirement system sooner rather than later.”

Unfortunately, the NEA is anything but “super flexible” when it comes to this issue:

“NEA strongly supports protecting public defined benefit plans. Such plans provide a defined, predictable, guaranteed benefit, usually based on factors such as age, earnings, and years of service. In contrast, defined contribution plans offer no guaranteed, predictable retirement benefit and place retirement security at the risk of stock or bond markets.”

Well, a recent article from Wirepoints.com (Overpromising has crippled public pensions. A 50-state survey) makes pretty clear that defined benefit plans are not sustainable in many states because the pension promises way outstrip the local GDP:

“Wirepoints found that the growth in accrued [pension] liabilities has been extreme in many states, often growing two to three times faster than the pace of their economies.”