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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Don’t demonize teachers because of pension system’s faults | toteachornototeach

Don’t demonize teachers because of pension system’s faults | toteachornototeach:


Don’t demonize teachers because of pension system’s faults

Don’t demonize teachers because of pension system’s faults
By Steve Lopez
Yes, public pensions got out of hand. But teachers aren’t the biggest culprits, nor are they why California has some of the nation’s most shamefully underfunded schools.
Just as I was preparing to defend public school teachers and their retirement benefits, I got a form letter last week from my employer’s vice president for human resources.
Apparently he felt it was important to inform me that I had earned additional shares in the company’s stock ownership plan in 2011. Good news? Not really. The value of each share was “$0,” and my shares will be “extinguished” upon reorganization and “receive no return.”
This means I’m out there with all the other slugs who work in private enterprise, where pensions have all but