Squeezed by ballooning pension costs, charters cut programs
A Queens charter school that pays for pension costs directly out of its budget is cutting programs to afford pensions.
Stacey Gauthier at the Renaissance Charter School is worrying a lot these days — about money. This year she’s had to increase class sizes, cut the summer school program, and forgo hiring experienced teachers when an older teacher retires. Yet she still hasn’t cut enough to be able to afford the school’s rising pension costs, whichhave grown from $12,000 per teacher in 2004 to $21,000 per teacher this year.
Pension costs for city teachers have been rising steadily over the past decade, but for the most part the expenses have been hidden from individual schools, which rely on the city to cover all pension