I appreciate Bart LeBon’s October 14 Community Perspective on the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), but it only tells half the story.
Mr. Burt recognizes that attracting and retaining teachers is an important issue for the state and wants to vote to spend money to achieve this worthy goal. But what Mr. Burt doesn’t seem to understand is that a major problem hindering the recruitment and retention of teachers and other public employees is Alaska’s current disastrous retirement system, which is linked to the abnormal turnover in public schools. This is obvious when you look at the rates.
Alaska is the only state that does not offer some type of defined benefit retirement security to most public employees, including teachers. What is defined benefit retirement security? For 97% of Americans, it’s Social Security. But that’s not the case for Alaska’s state employees. These particular employees were “opted out” of Social Security decades ago. At one time, Alaska’s retirement system functioned as a de facto Social Security system, providing monthly pension plans to public employees.
But in 2006, the state Legislature changed the state’s system from a defined benefit retirement system to a defined contribution system. This means that new employees will lose their social security equivalent. Instead, they utilized a savings plan similar to a 401k. Simply put, Alaska state employees hired after 2006 do not have equivalent Social Security benefits and are at real risk of running out of money if they live to age 70, 80, or 90. .
This leaves Alaska’s teachers and most public employees in a very unusual and precarious situation. They must save enough money to last them the rest of their lives. There is no backup plan in case you run out of stock. For 97% of Americans, Social Security is a backup plan. And here’s the scary truth. Approximately 40% of older Americans eventually use up all their savings and live solely on their Social Security income.
What will happen to teachers and other public employees in Alaska when the money runs out? No one knows for sure. Alaska is the only state with a retiree in this enviable position. Fifteen other states allow some public employees to opt out of Social Security, but these states offer alternative retirement plans that include a certain level of guaranteed income no matter how long retirees live. are.
Burt said he doesn’t want to reconsider past legislative decisions, but reconsidering decisions that had negative outcomes for Alaska students based on new information is exactly what a high-quality legislator should do. It is something that should be done. Our future is at stake. Alaska is losing teachers and other public employees at an alarming rate. This is not surprising. Because those who choose to pursue a career in our state and remain in these positions are putting themselves in a very dangerous position after retirement. Another 49 states have retirement guarantees for public employees.
Constant teacher turnover is a very serious problem for student learning. Prior to 2006, Alaska was recognized as one of the best school systems in the country, and many veteran teachers called Alaska home. I remember hearing many business leaders shout out that our schools were among the best in the state and that Fairbanks was a great place to raise a family. . That advantage has eroded dramatically over the past 18 years. Previously selected from a surplus of qualified educators, our district now struggles to fill positions with willing workers. Now, local business leaders are complaining that they can’t keep their workers employed, and military leaders are saying families are no longer eager to come to the base because the schools are no longer considered high quality. It states that there is no.
There is an answer to this downward spiral. By taking control of this situation and fixing our current deeply flawed state retirement system, we can begin the path back to great public schools. A bill to restore retirement security to state employees passed the Alaska Senate this year but stalled in the House. The bill includes risk-sharing measures aimed at preventing underfunded situations like those that occurred before 2006 by ensuring that states and public officials adequately fund the system. There is.
It is very unfortunate that Mr. Burt has refused to work toward implementing a defined benefit retirement plan for educators.
The opinion piece he wrote states that in order to compete for high-quality educators and put Alaska schools back on track to maximize student learning, we need to compete for high-quality educators and put Alaska schools on par with what other states offer. This shows that he does not understand the reality that he has to provide for his retirement.
Tim Parker is a former teacher who taught in the Fairbanks North Star Regional School District for 22 years. He also served as Chairman of NEA Alaska from 2016 to 2020.
