HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS COLUMN: With the historic transportation funding legislation now out of the way, Rep. Glen Grell, R-Hampden Twp., said he is optimistic the pension reform issue that has been a top priority for him will finally move front and center for the Legislature.
Giving it a goose, he said, is a notice sent out to school districts from the Public School Employees’ Retirement System on Thursday advising them for budgeting purposes to prepare for the highest-ever employer contribution rate they ever faced…
“The additional mandated costs to cover the significant pension increases will have an immediate and somewhat devastating effect upon school budgets that will require school boards to both increase taxes and possibly decrease educational offerings,” said Northern Lebanon School District Superintendent Don Bell… (more)
PSERS will cost the School District of Lancaster an additional $4 million dollars in the 2013-2014 school year. Similar increases are expected for the next several years.
Even with the pain of increasing local real estate taxes, staff and program cuts are inevitable as a result of Pennsylvania’s gross mishandling of school pension funds over the past decade and a half. (Note that these pension funds include ALL school employees in PA, not just teachers and administrators.)