Employee pension systems, especially those of state employees (and thus state $$$), are no laughing matter. They are, however, quite complex and make my brain hurt when I spend more than 5 minutes thinking about them. Even so, it’s worth the time (and headache) to understand pension systems and how the states fund them.
Getting to the point, Education Sector, an education think tank based in Washington, D.C., released a report today looking at teacher pension systems in the U.S. and how most of them are underfunded. Amazingly, Washington is one of three states that does not have unfunded liabilities. Yep, us, New York and Florida. I’ve actually sat through presentations by the state staffers who manage all of our pensions, so I’m not totally surprised by the findings in this report. Our state pensions systems are managed pretty well, and often get better returns than most other states’ systems.
So if you’d like some nice bedside reading, give the report a read. And, all joking aside, the folks at EdSector do a good job of making these issues accessible to a wide audience, and don’t just write for wonks like myself.
