I was chatting with my AJC colleagues in the office today about possible candidates for the chief turnaround officer created by the new law on state intervention in failing schools. I wondered about Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield, who is liked and respected by Gov. Nathan Deal.
In the midst of that discussion, my editor sent me a link to a fascinating story in the Gainesville Times in which Schofield predicts school districts will not be able to maintain the level of benefits now accorded employees. Schofield says the rising tab facing his district and others is "on an unsustainable path."
Georgia and other states are shifting more of the cost of school staff benefits to local school districts. According to a Georgia Budget & Policy Institute analysis of Deal's new budget:
The budget calls for $166 million less than the state's school funding formula calculates school systems should receive. School districts will need to pay nearly $30 million more for health insurance for bus drivers and other non-teaching staff, and that's on top of steep price hikes in previous years. Districts will also shoulder a portion of rising retirement costs and offset shrinking state funding for student transportation.
The Times reports: (Try to read the full story as it is informative.)
Schofield said more than $11 million of the $13 million in increased spending in the proposed 2018 fiscal year budget is related to salary and benefit increases for employees. The county budget plan includes both budget cuts and taking up to $6 million from the district's fund balance to cover the increases. He added that the burden on local school districts is likely to continue to increase, potentially leading to more future cuts.
Public employees have more of their health plan premiums covered than their private industry counterparts.
Government (public administration) health insurance plans had the highest average total premium cost per employee at $11,329 per year—17.5 percent higher than the average group health plan. Despite this, public employees' share of their premiums was the lowest among all workers at $2,040—45 percent less than average, the survey found.
In a report on monthly costs to employee compensation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics looked at data for December and found:
North Carolina is among the states now debating abandoning state teacher pensions for 401(k) plans for new hires in an effort to decrease costs. Georgia lawmakers attempted similar changes with little success.
State Sen. Hunter Hill, R-Atlanta, has proposed keeping the pension system in place for current employees but offering a hybrid retirement plan for incoming teachers -- part traditional pension and part 401(k).
As the AJC reported, the political challenges to such a change are daunting:
John Palmer, a Cobb County educator and spokesman for the activist group TRAGIC, has made it clear that teachers and retirees would fight any changes to the pension system. He said lawmakers approved measures similar to those promoted by Hill and Martin a decade ago for the state employee's retirement system.
"The argument back then was that the state would offer higher wages to offset the loss of a defined retirement benefit," Palmer said. "Those higher wages have never materialized, and state agencies are finding it nearly impossible to recruit and retain state employees. "Teachers are used to broken state promises, and we will not be able to recruit and retain quality teachers by trading one of the most stable retirement systems in the country for the empty promise of a higher salary."
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