CalSTRS CEO Says: Don’t Mess With Teachers’ Pensions
CalSTRS CEO Jack Ehnes criticized the Little Hoover Commission’s recommendations to slash CalSTRS, the California teachers pension system, calling many of its suggestions naïve or impractical. He also pointed out that many of its premises are wrong. For example, the trouble with the pension has nothing to do with “overly generous” payouts. In fact, teachers are lucky if they get back 60% of what they earned in their highest-earning years of services.
Gov. Jerry Brown (friend of teachers??) has been maneuvering in the back room with several Republican state senators to cut a deal that slashes CalSTRS in exchange for their support in floating a regressive tax extension on the June ballot. The move is completely unnecessary (CalSTRS is NOT in any kind of serious trouble), faces serious legal hurdles, and involves other serious challenges that draw into question its chances of even
Detroit Students Win A Small One Against Bobb and Broad
As I have reported several times on this blog, Detroit Public Schools (DPS) Financial Manager Robert Bobb has been slashing and burning DPS, closing up to half of its schools, and raising high school class sizes to 60 students per class. Bobb has not limited his axe to schools. He has also been cutting arts, music and other programs at many schools. At Southeastern High, students decided to fight back against cuts to their music program with walkouts and a press conference, ultimately winning the right to perform at a statewide choir competition. The following is based on the reporting of Danny Weil, from Daily Censored, and Diane Bukowski, from the Voice of Detroit.
Bob Bobb insisted that cutting the arts/music program (along with his other cuts) was necessary to keep the district solvent. The students insisted he was wrong, walking out of school three times in order to prove it. They also engaged in a sit-in at their school where they were maced by the police. Ultimately they won authorization to compete in the Michigan School