Thanks to roller-coaster stock returns and an aging population of workers, the state will have to plow an extra $150 million next year into its pension plans to make sure they remain sound.
Teachers, who have seen furloughs, pay cuts and rising health insurance costs in recent years, will also be asked to pay more into their retirement plans. So will school districts.
The increases come at a time when massive stock losses during the Great Recession, generous benefits and an increase in retirements as baby boomers leave the workforce have played havoc with pension systems across the country.
The higher state and teacher pension contribution rates were approved even before the recent plummet in stock prices, so the situation for pensions could get even worse if markets don’t recover for a while.
In Sunday's newspaper, the AJC takes a close look at how state officials are trying to prop up teacher and employee pension plans. It's a story you'll get only by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper's iPad app . Subscribe today .
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