Brake, Robbins address state pension issues

Oct. 06--Daviess County Public Schools and Owensboro Public Schools superintendents addressed their respective boards of education Thursday to update them about Kentucky pension system issues, and discussed a unified effort that will be taking place Friday.

Nick Brake, OPS superintendent, said during the board's regularly scheduled luncheon at Owensboro High School that he is working closely with regional counterparts to tackle this state-wide concern.

He also invited board members to attend the 10 a.m. Friday press conference that will take place at Sutton Elementary School, 2060 Lewis Lane, during which time the superintendents from Ohio County Public Schools, Hancock County Public Schools, Muhlenberg County Public Schools, McLean County Public Schools will be joining Brake and Matt Robbins, DCPS superintendent, to present a combined front in regards to the issues.

Robbins spoke with DCPS board members during an evening board retreat Thursday at the district central office.

Both Robbins and Brake referenced the PFM report presented to Gov. Matt Bevin from the PFM Group in August about potential changes to the public employee, county employee and teacher retirement systems.

It has been reported that state legislatures would have to come up with $1 billion in the next budget for the pension plans. Some changes that have been brought up have including moving some of those employees into standard 401(k) retirement plans, which would move them away from their current plans that provide a guaranteed return on their investments.

Other changes suggest placing teachers into the Social Security system, which they haven't been a part of since Social Security's inception in 1930.

Robbins and Brake put together a presentation from which they both pulled facts detailing current ails within the TRS and the CERS. Both districts report having 50 percent of employees that fall within each system.

The presentation talked about the many solutions suggested in the PFM, many of which Robbins said in the retreat meeting aren't even legal.

Some of the solutions in the PFM don't address the unfunded liability the system faces, but talk about shifting the risk from the commonwealth legislature to employees.

Brake said the TRS and CERS are well-funded systems.

"It would be foolish to walk away from something like that," he said.

Robbins said for teachers to be placed into the Social Security system would be like "jumping from a pan of hot water into a pan of boiling water."

Both Robbins and Brake said they, along with the Kentucky School Board Association, Kentucky League of Cities, Kentucky Education Association, and many other groups across the state, are advocating teachers not be admitted into Social Security, but to begin a shared responsibility plan that will be cheaper for tax payers and better for teachers.

All the parties have to come together to work out these issues, Robbins said.

Brake, Robbins and other district leaders have a concern that changing pensions so drastically will impact teacher recruitment, teacher retention and reflect negatively on the profession.

There already is a shortage of teachers in Kentucky without losing pension beneifts, Brake said, and Robbins agreed.

"You cannot think of education as an expense," he said. "This is not a cost, it's an investment."

Brake told board members that should the General Assembly go into a special sessions regarding the pension issues in early November, as has been alluded, that OPS will not have school that day so its teachers can go to Frankfort.

Robbins said that DCPS administrators are also discussing a similar measure because he wants teachers to have the opportunity to express their concerns.

Bobbie Hayse, [email protected], 270-691-7315, Twitter: @BobbieHayseMI

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