Public School Closures - Teacher Protest

[rjs4470]

Can you do that anywhere else? I have a lot of friends that are teachers that are very upset over this.

 

I grew up in a household where both parents worked for the city government (not in KY). When both my parents retired (my dad in 1993 and my mother in 2005) both cashed in large amounts of sick days. I believe both were able to retire roughly almost a year earlier while cashing a mid 5 figure check. I think it's a fairly common (or was a fairly common) practice of state/city/county workers to be able to put unused sick time towards retirement. The idea being they want you at work, and missed time means lost, unrecoverable productivity. In the private sector, I think it's almost unheard of.

[camelman]

Teachers and their spouses also cannot collect Social Security when they retire, which plays into the sick day payout.

 

Another thing this bill did is remove the death benefit for hazardous duty employees (fire fighters, police, etc).

 

A spouse of a teacher can collect social security (if not a teacher themselves), but the catch is if the non-teaching spouse dies first, the teaching widow no longer receives their social security.

 

On a related note, not really as great of an incentive to become a teacher anymore. The pay never was all that good, but now that the guaranteed pension will be gone for new hires, how does the state attract teachers? Many Kentuckians who are teachers living in counties bordering other states already teach in the other states that offer better pay and retirement plans.

[HammerTime]

That's beyond dumb IMO.

 

Did I see right it was only a $5,000 benefit? Can’t believe it was that low to begin with.

[Randy Parker]

In this whirlwind, I think I saw it would only move the 40 billion needle 3 billion.

 

We're never getting out of that hole.

[nees1212]

A spouse of a teacher can collect social security (if not a teacher themselves), but the catch is if the non-teaching spouse dies first, the teaching widow no longer receives their social security.

 

Thanks. I was going off what a couple teacher friends posted last night.

[75center]

Thanks.

 

Outside of the 35 years of service increase, I don't see anything in there that is going to negatively impact teachers or their retirement.

 

One thing I remember from the article is something about it costing the average person 59,000 during the life of their retirement due to the decrease in the cost of living for 12 years.

[Getslow]

So is this really going to cause the majority of teachers to take all of their allotted sick time? I get no benefit to not using my sick time, but I never use it regardless. Why would teachers be different?

 

Because jobs are different. It’s an incentive. Both to get teachers not to use all their allotted sick leave and instead come to work while banking that leave and as a retirement benefit that incentivizes hiring and retention.

[bugatti]

Side question to all of this. Not saying it will or should happen, but are all the teachers skipping out on school today subject to discipline?

Edited March 30, 2018 by bugatti

[75center]

Thanks.

 

That seems crazy. How do I get that option added to my retirement? I never take sick days. :lol2:

 

Take a job in the public sector, it seems pretty standard there.

[Hellcats]

I was wrong this will save 300 million.

 

:lol2:

 

It was 3 billion taking away COLA for retired teachers.

[camelman]

Side question to all of this. Not saying it will or should happen, but are all the teachers skipping out on school today subject to discipline?

 

Why should or how could they be? They are using their sick days. But then again, school is closed. So therefore, they may not even have to use those. lol

[Bengal Maniac]

Of course, the real issue is they made some cosmetic changes that really does nothing to resolve the forthcoming deficit.

 

If the legislature would start funding the Teacher Retirement (I can't speak to others) it would recover in a reasonable amount of time. The problem would alleviate itself even quicker if the legislature would consider raising revenue through sin taxes and casino gambling. I will not get to why because it becomes political, but everyone knows how that plays out anyway.

 

The changes really does not impact me personnally much at all, but this will significantly impact districts in they are pushing everything to districts. The sick days will the ways already stated. Is that a killer, no, I could probably live with that, but I already have mine. My son and daughter will not get it added to retirement, they still can get the pay out if districts still choose to do that (sick day accumulation is not a state decsion only adding to retirement is. The districts have always had control of the payout. I know of no district that doesn't pay out, but they could have always and still can choose not to).

 

The biggest financial incentive to teach in Kentucky public schools was the retirement (pension) plan. There is no doubt this will impact attracting the best candidates (especially with 7 border states that may have better plans now). Pushng the retirement plans to school boards and government agencies will impact all of us more than anyone probably realizes for basic government services.

 

The way it was done was appalling and just plain wrong. However, it was expected by me. I told everyone I knew this would happen. I wish I could say how I thought that and why I thought that, but it becomes political. Everyone really knows how this game is played anyway or should know.

 

Let's see how the budget will impact retirees with health insurance for those under 65. If the health insurance is now not covered in the retirement, then it impacts my wife for the next 7-8 years to the tune of approximately $700 a month. We are fortunate, that is impactful but we can manage. But if you are the avearage teacher with a pension of 35 k before federal taxes, then this is an absolute killer for them to meet their retirement adjusted lifestyle. In plain math, if they bring home 2000-2300 k per month and take a $700 hit, that is wrong when you were never told to plan otherwise for 30 years. That will cause a huge uproar if that plays out in the budget. This will cause (right or wrong) a teacher walkout, no doubt in my mind. It also will change other things, especially in rural Kentucky, but that is political and I will not state what.

[Hellcats]

Side question to all of this. Not saying it will or should happen, but are all the teachers skipping out on school today subject do discipline?

 

There is a flu epidemic and a rough stomach bug going around. :lol2:

[75center]

A spouse of a teacher can collect social security (if not a teacher themselves), but the catch is if the non-teaching spouse dies first, the teaching widow no longer receives their social security.

 

On a related note, not really as great of an incentive to become a teacher anymore. The pay never was all that good, but now that the guaranteed pension will be gone for new hires, how does the state attract teachers? Many Kentuckians who are teachers living in counties bordering other states already teach in the other states that offer better pay and retirement plans.

 

It's definitely going to be a problem, I'm sure glad all my kids are out of school. Now I'll have to start worrying about my grandkids I guess.

[camelman]

Of course, the real issue is they made some cosmetic changes that really does nothing to resolve the forthcoming deficit.

 

If the legislature would start funding the Teacher Retirement (I can't speak to others) it would recover in a reasonable amount of time. The problem would alleviate itself even quicker if the legislature would consider raising revenue through sin taxes and casino gambling. I will not get to why because it becomes political, but everyone knows how that plays out anyway.

 

The changes really does not impact me personnally much at all, but this will significantly impact districts in they are pushing everything to districts. The sick days will the ways already stated. Is that a killer, no, I could probably live with that, but I already have mine. My so and saughter will not get it added to retirement, they still can get the pay out if districts still choose to do that (sick day accumulation is not a state decsion only adding to retirement is. The districts have always had control of the payout. I no of no district that doesn't pay out, but they could have always and still can choose not to).

 

The biggest financial incentive to teach in Kentucky public schools was the retirement (pension) plan. There is no doubt this will impact attracting the best candidates (especially with 7 border states that may have better plans now). Pushng the retirement plans to school boards and government agecies will impact all of us mre than anyone probably realizes for basic government services.

 

The way it was done was appalling and just plain wrong. However, it was expected by me. I told everyone I knew this would happen. I wish I could say how I thought that and why I thought that, but it becomes political. Everyone really knows how this game is played anyway or should know.

 

Let's see how the budget will impact retirees with health insurance for those under 65. If the health insurance is now not covered in the retirement, then it impacts my wife for the next 7-8 years to the tune of approximately $700 a month. We are fortunate, that is impactful but we can manage. But if you are the avearage teacher with a pension of 35 k before federal taxes, then this is an absolute killer for them to meet their retirement adjusted lifestyle. In plain math, if they bring home 2000-2300 k per month and take a $700 hit, that is wrong when you were never told to plan otherwise for 30 years. That will cause a huge uproar if that plays out in the budget. This will cause (right or wrong) a teacher walkout, no doubt in my mind. It also will change other things, especially in rural Kentucky, but that is political and I will not state what.

 

Your analysis is spot on. Only thing I would add to the bold above in your rundown is I saw somewhere last night that a legislator said that one of the things this simply does is show that "hey, Kentucky reformed its pension plan" so now ratings agencies encouraged by signs of pension reform will raise Kentucky's credit ratings, making borrowing cheaper, thus helping offset the big shortfall down the road.