STATE LAWMAKERS have pushed the California teacher pension fund toward a financial cliff and are now standing on the side of the road, apparently hoping divine intervention will stop the ensuing plunge off the edge.

Under its current funding structure, the question is not whether the pension plan of the California State Teachers' Retirement System will go broke, but when. The system's latest estimate is about 2040.

While most pension systems in California -- including the largest, the California Public Employees' Retirement System -- are irresponsibly manipulated with unrealistic actuarial assumptions, at least they are making small efforts to reduce their debts in the coming decades. They aren't talking about insolvency.

That's because they control their destinies -- they have authority to require more contributions from employers and