California Public Schools Threatened by Pension Shorages

Calwatchdog reports on California's pension shortages rearing their ugly head again. This time, it's schools that will take the hit:

"Public schools around California are bracing for a crisis driven by skyrocketing worker pension costs that are expected to force districts to divert billions of dollars from classrooms into retirement accounts, education officials said,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “The depth of the funding gap became clear to district leaders when they returned from the holiday break: What they contribute to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, known as CalPERS, will likely double within six years, according to state estimates.”

This situation has actually been with us for some time, as readers here already know. Worker pensions are taking a big bit out of all government services:

"The city of Los Angeles already dedicates 20 percent of its budget for pension obligations, Anaheim 13 percent, Long Beach 11 percent and San Jose as high as 27 percent.”

I have no idea how big a chunk pension costs take from our budgets up here. It's probably safe to say it's about the same. It's also probably safe to say we'll be hearing more pleas for tax increases in future elections for both schools and general government services to make up for shortages. Of course, the public employee unions will keep telling us this isn't a problem.