Voices Against Privatizing Public Education
Our main goal is to ensure equitable access to a quality public education for all. Access to a quality public education is a right and not a privilege.
California’s unfunded pension liabilities are ballooning out of control. Here’s the fix
Privatizers Attack CA Defined Pension Benefits
www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/california-pension-liability-401k-19419143.php
By Francois Melese
May 10, 2024
The California Public Employees’s Retirement System has a pension debt of nearly half a trillion dollars and is only 72% funded.
The California Public Employees’s Retirement System has a pension debt of nearly half a trillion dollars and is only 72% funded.
Max Whittaker/Getty Images 2009
As California struggles to address its alarming budget deficit, big bills are coming due for retirement past benefits promised city, county and state workers.
Choking on unfunded pension and health care liabilities, cities like Carmel-by-the-Sea pay their pensioners more than active employees. While the average annual earnings of Carmel’s 99 workers are around $85,000, its 108 pensioners collect nearly $95,000 per year. Carmel’s combined pension and health care promises add up to nearly $100 million. This includes over $30 million in unfunded liabilities. Though this looks good in comparison to the nearby Monterey County city of Pacific Grove’s $66 million in unfunded liabilities, it still demands attention.
Sadly, San Jose faces $4 billion in unfunded pension and health care liabilities. San Francisco faces a staggering $7 billion. California’s total unfunded pension liabilitiesare an eye-watering $250 billion. At the heart of California’s pension crisis are “defined benefit” retirement programs.
To fix its pension problems California should follow the lead of the federal government and private sector and shift from defined benefit programs to defined contribution, or 401(k)-type plans. Under defined benefit programs, cities and unions negotiate future pension and health care promises and then set aside funds to cover those liabilities. Much like Social Security, employees contribute a fraction of their paychecks to the retirement system. Unlike Social Security, where employers contribute 6.2% of wages, cities deposit an average of over 25% of their payrolls into California’s public pension funds.
The nation’s largest pension fund, the California Public Employee Retirement System, known as CalPERS, manages pooled assets of roughly 75% of California municipalities. San Jose has two similar retirement funds, the Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan and the Federated City Employees’ Retirement System. San Francisco relies on its San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System. Regrettably, the CalPERS fund is bleeding red ink. Its pension debt of nearly half a trillion dollars is only 72% funded. More than $150 billion of CalPERS over $600 billion in pension promises remain unfunded.
Historically, a major risk for retirement funds is investment returns fail to meet pension and health care obligations. Budget holes faced by Carmel, Pacific Grove, San Jose, San Francisco and other cities, counties and special districts are partly the result of over-optimistic pension fund forecasts and overly generous taxpayer-guaranteed pension promises.
Remarkably, the average retirement benefit distributed by California’s public pension funds is nearly five times greater than comparable Social Security benefits. Furthermore, the California Rule gives retirees a legal right to public pension benefits even if a city can no longer afford them. Exploding pension costs are priority obligations, forcing municipalities strapped for cash to boost taxes or sacrifice funding for infrastructure, maintenance and public safety, or they have to dip into their financial reserves. City services suffer and future taxpayers are left on the hook. Unfunded liabilities compound a city’s problems by sinking its credit worthiness. This can raise borrowing costs at precisely the time a city needs to issue bonds to meet pension obligations.
The pension crisis is not the fault of California’s public employees. Voters, taxpayers and state and local officials all failed to notice the revolution taking place in retirement benefits. The federal government and most private companies determined decades ago that defined benefit programs were unsustainable. They depend on complex and easily manipulated economic, demographic and actuarial variables. Consequently, a complete picture of pension and health care promises is often hidden until it’s too late. The result is unfunded liabilities.
Today, the federal government and most major companies have largely transitioned away from defined benefit programs to defined contribution plans. These plans clearly define periodic pension contributions that are deposited in their employee’s individual retirement accounts, typically matching a fraction of their savings. The cumulative value of an employee’s pension upon retirement is simply a function of their saving decisions, employer contributions and investment returns. This eliminates the risk of unfunded pension liabilities.
To avoid insolvency and turn unfunded liabilities into a historical footnote, municipalities must gradually shift from defined benefit programs to defined contribution plans. But because these 401(k)-type plans transfer investment risks from employers to employees, public unions are likely to resist. Fortunately, these objections can be overcome (and cities assured of retaining valued employees) by offering higher wages, and/or more generous matching. The major benefit is revealing the true cost of public services.
Although adjustments to employee benefits are politically sensitive and can provoke labor disputes, cities are at a breaking point. The remaining challenge is the near impossibility of a city escaping its liability without making large payments to CalPERS, the Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan, the Federated City Employees’ Retirement System and the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System. This suggests the only way to implement the transition may be through a state referendum that requires Sacramento to secure all municipal pension obligations. The dual benefit would be to encourage state officials to modify future benefits to better align with Social Security and to facilitate the transition from defined benefit programs to defined contribution plans.
Francois Melese is a professor emeritus of economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. He consults for Crediture.com, a local startup that focuses on community impact lending, and serves as a board member of the California Arts & Sciences Institute.
May 10, 2024
Francois Melese
California’s unfunded pension liabilities are ballooning out of control. Here’s the fix
www.sfchronicle.com
The average retirement benefit distributed by California’s public pension funds is nearly five times greater than comparable Social Security benefits.In the first update in over ten months, the LAUSD provides seven-month-old information showing that charter schools still owe $3,856,851 in past-due fees. Read the article for more information: medium.com/@changethelausd/charter-school-division-finally-provides-an-update-ef5b17541d37?sk=9cd…
UESF Condemns CDE intervention & Democrat Charter Supporter State Superintendent of Instruction Tony Thurmond
Our Students Deserve Fully Staffed Schools in the Fall
drive.google.com/file/d/1M3BSw5QUL74zCrzGHbJsrxYRvKM4nC2_/view
The California Department of Education’s intervention in SFUSD’s March budget qualification has the potential to directly oppose the interests of students, educators and our school communities. It is in our students’ best interests to have educators ready to educate in August when we start the 2024-2025 school year. SFUSD was working to ensure those conditions by rescinding layoffs in the midst of growing vacancies, in order to place qualified educators in students’ classrooms. Having inherited decades of fiscal mismanagement, the current SFUSD management has finally committed to cutting central office department budgets, reducing expensive unrepresented central management positions and streamlining programs and services.
By issuing this downgrade, the California Department of Education Superintendent Tony Thurmond is putting the district in a position to pressure SFUSD to layoff experienced educators who will only need to be rehired in September in order to fulfill the expectations of bureaucratic budgetary practices that have nothing to do with our students’ right to a high quality public education.
Historically, state intervention in public education enables a small number of unelected individuals to impose a set of standards that center corporate financial practices NOT students and school communities. The Board of Education has been engaging in a community process in regards to restructuring and realigning resources that will now be under the authority of a single appointed individual who is not from San Francisco, is not a San Francisco educator nor parent, and is not beholden to any constituency other than his bosses.
The schools our students deserve are not built by state intervention, irresponsible layoffs of needed positions or undermining the needs of our school communities. We need fully staffed schools, not educator vacancies in Fall. Superintendent Tony Thurmond should immediately rescind this decision. UESF stands with education workers, parents, families, students and our communities in demanding that the CDE rescind this downgraded certification immediately.
City College trustees weigh interim chancellor amid rift over future direction
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/city-college-trustees-weigh-interim-chancellor-19449028.php
By Nanette Asimov
May 9, 2024
City College of San Francisco trustees expect to appoint the school’s tenth chancellor in 12 years Thursday night amid disagreements over how to resolve challenges facing the school.
City College of San Francisco trustees expect to appoint the school’s tenth chancellor in 12 years Thursday night amid disagreements over how to resolve challenges facing the school.
Stephen Lam/The Chronicle
City College of San Francisco trustees expected to appoint the school’s 10th chancellor in 12 years Thursday night, and one of the three contenders for the interim position is a former chancellor who pleaded guilty to felony misuse of funds in 2011, the Chronicle has learned.
The former chancellor, Philip Day, could not immediately be reached for comment. City College trustees did not comment because they don’t discuss search processes as a matter of policy.
Also under consideration for the job are Mitchell Bailey and Rosa Perez, who are both education consultants. Bailey served from 2016 to 2022 as a vice chancellor in the San Mateo Community College District, which oversees three colleges. Perez served as chancellor of the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District from 2005 to 2010.
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Sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed the candidates’ names to the Chronicle but asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak. The newspaper granted them anonymity under its confidential sources policy.
Bailey also served as the former chief of staff to Ron Galatolo, the ex-chancellor of the San Mateo Community College District, who is battling multiple felony counts of misusing public funds. During her tenure in San Jose, Perez came under scrutiny over some of her expenses, but an investigation by an independent law firm found them to be legitimate.
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S.F. supervisor calls on City College trustees to explain threat to accreditation
City College of San Francisco alum and proud parent of current student Jaime Moran walks through the main campus on Wednesday January 14, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. The accrediting commission granted CCSF two more years to get everything in order to avoid losing accreditation. "It's great new for everyone," said Moran.
City College of S.F. gets dire warning: Fix problems or face serious consequences
People rally outside the Board of Trustees meeting at City College of San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. The American Federation of Teachers, Local 2121, representing the faculty of City College, called for the rally to protest stalled negotiations and to demand better wages for school faculty.
City College is seeking a new leader because Chancellor David Martin, although embraced by the fiscally pragmatic trustees who hired him, found opposition in the newer, union-backed majority that opposes the faculty and class cuts Martin imposed. He expects to leave when his contract expires on June 30 and has lined up a new job in Placer County. But the trustees may fire him on Thursday night and pay the severance his contract requires.
The trustees’ pushback against the chancellor’s efforts to keep college spending in line with revenue led the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges to sanction City College in January. The school’s financial outlook is also expected to get worse next year without a significant enrollment boost
The scenario makes it difficult to attract a new, permanent leader, the sources said. On April 25, the trustees approved hiring a Washington, D.C. search firm, ABG, but authorized no budget for it. Board President Alan Wong did not respond to a request for comment about the expected cost of the search.
Sources said the search for a permanent chancellor could take at least a year and that the trustees identified interim candidates without help from a search firm. The new interim chancellor will be the college’s sixth temporary leader since 2012.
Day was chancellor of City College from 1998 to 2008. In 2011, he admitted that he had diverted $100,000 intended for the college into campaigns for bond measures. As part of a legal deal, Day pleaded guilty to three felony counts, paid $30,000 in fines and was sentenced to five years probation. State law prohibits using public funds for political purposes.
During Bailey’s tenure with the San Mateo district, he served as chief of staff to Chancellor Ron Galatolo, who has pleaded not guilty to more than 20 felony counts of misusing public funds, including allegations that he awarded construction contracts in exchange for gifts, benefits and free work on his personal properties.
There have been no allegations of wrongdoing against Bailey. His boss was placed on administrative leave in 2019 and was fired in 2021. The case is making its way through San Mateo Superior Court.
Bailey did not return requests for comment.
Perez stepped away from her duties with the San Jose-Evergreen district in 2009, citing her health, according to coverage at the time in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
A 2009 story in the San Jose Mercury News reported that the college district had hired a law firm for an independent investigation because Perez had “charged the district and its foundation for lavish perks that included overnight stays at San Jose’s luxury Fairmont Hotel, a tour of El Salvador and airfare to Scotland.”
The newspaper also found that in the four years after Perez took over, “her salary has jumped 48 percent to $293,000 a year.” The salary of Perez’s partner, a district administrator hired two months after Perez got the top job, rose by 35%.
The Business Journal reported in May 2010 that the investigation had “largely cleared” her of allegations of financial improprieties. But the firm that conducted the probe expressed concerns that Perez’s joint ownership of a home with an employee under her supervision “potentially violated conflict of interest laws.”
Perez said she believes the allegations against her were “racist and homophobic,” as she is a lesbian. She said she paid out of her own pocket to visit El Salvador, in order to learn more about students who were deported there. Although she did not personally pay for the Scotland trip, she said it was educational in nature because low-income youngsters were connected with social services that enabled them to succeed in the long run.
Regarding the shared property with an employee, Perez said that, although the rules have changed, “it was not considered illegal.”
The trustees were expected to consider interim candidates in a closed-door meeting at the main campus on Frida Kahlo Way, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Reach Nanette Asimov: nasimov@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
City College trustees weigh interim chancellor amid rift over future direction
www.sfchronicle.com
City College of San Francisco trustees expect to appoint the school’s 10th chancellor in 12 years amid disagreements over how to resolve challenges.Chancellor Day was the best Chancellor ever for City College. take a very close look at the allegations about mishandling funds. it was much ado about NOTHING. He can turn the college around —- again. During his time a the college CCSF grew to 100,000 students and was thriving.
‘Free Palestine!’: Anti-war protest wave comes to Korean campuses
Posted on : 2024-05-09 16:26 KST Modified on : 2024-05-09 16:26 KST
Protestors invoked previous generations of Korean student protesters who fought for justice
Members of SNU Soobak, a student organization for solidarity with Palestine, carry out an anti-war sit-in on the college’s campus on May 8, 2024. (Goh Gyoung-ju/The Hankyoreh)
Members of SNU Soobak, a student organization for solidarity with Palestine, carry out an anti-war sit-in on the college’s campus on May 8, 2024. (Goh Gyoung-ju/The Hankyoreh)
“Free, free Palestine! Stop, stop genocide!”
On Wednesday afternoon, voices in solidarity with Palestine echoed throughout Seoul National University’s campus during the school’s spring festival. Draped in colorful traditional Palestinian scarves, known as keffiyehs, a group of around 20 students from various countries, including South Korea and Sweden, chanted slogans.
As protests against the war in Gaza at some US universities spread across American campuses and throughout Europe, demonstrations in support of Palestine have also begun to emerge at Korean universities. The SNU Palestine solidarity club “Soobak” — Korean for “watermelon,” a symbol of Palestine — launched a sit-in on Wednesday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on campus. Similarly, students from Yonsei University marched from their student union building to Sinchon Station that afternoon.
Soobak, which organized the SNU protest, issued a statement calling for an “immediate end to the genocide occurring in Gaza” and strongly condemned the invasion of Rafah by Israel. The statement also urged the university to “cut academic ties with Israeli institutions (Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University) that aid in the oppression of Palestine.” Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University are known supporters of Israeli military forces.
The students cited their “responsibility as university students” as their reason for participating in the protest and stated that their “predecessors, including the martyr Park Jong-chul, have a tradition of fighting not just for their own personal concerns but also for social justice.” They added, “Based on this tradition, we believe the Palestinian issue is not only a concern for Palestinians but for everyone who desires freedom and peace in the world.” The protestors also adorned a campus bust of Park with a Palestinian keffiyeh.
Lee Si-heon, an SNU student who participated in the protest, said, “Seeing university students around the world leading anti-war demonstrations inspired me to join.”
Lee added, “I hope today's protest will inspire similar movements to expand to other universities.”
However, there is also the potential for conflict with students with differing views. Last month, an Israeli professor at SNU’s College of Music faced investigation by prosecutors after defacing pro-Palestinian posters on campus with spray paint.
By Goh Gyoung-ju, staff reporter
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When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.statehornet.com/2024/05/sac-state-divest-sjp-2024-encampment/
BREAKING: Sac State to alter investment policies in light of pro-Palestine encampment
statehornet.com
Sacramento State becomes the first California State University to announce divestment from “corporations that profit from genocide,” according to revised policies from President Luke Wood.
The problems here are similar to many other scandals involving charter schools across the country. Hopefully, with the audit and continuing investigation something concrete happens to the charter school system asap!!
P.R. Students Solidarity With US Students
“The Militant Student Collective at the University of Puerto Rico expresses itself in solidarity with student movement, connecting the struggle for Palestinian liberation with the struggle for Puerto Rican freedom from US colonial rule”
48hills.org/2024/05/restoring-the-ecosystem-of-city-college/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3TllnVLNZ…
Restoring the ecosystem of City College – 48 hills
48hills.org
The next chancellor needs to prioritize all types of classes for all types of students.