Maybe the “Watchdog” needs to stop just lying in his dog house and come out into the light and research the cause of the pension crisis instead of yapping the mistaken media mantra.
In fact, there have not been “continuous pay increases beyond the rate of inflation.” SDoL teacher’s pay has not kept up with inflation over the past decade.
The problem with the pension system is due to the failure of the legislature to make the required contributions to the pension system since early in the decade. This pension funding “holiday” the legislature took allowed the state to spend on other pet legislative projects, rather than met its statutory obligation to the pension system.
The PA Independent, and many other true investigative reporting outlets, have actually researched and written about the facts of this situation.
No problem. We’ll simply default on the pensions. My employer did it to me and the government did nothing.