Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The End Game: Pensions

It is probably just the historical moment, but right now it certainly feels like the driving force at the core of school reform is an aversion to pensions. That's the end game. Unions are bad because they lead to pensions. Bad teachers hang around to get their pensions. Tenure is bad because it allows people to hang around and get overly large pensions. Charter schools are good because... no pensions! TFA-ers... don't want pensions!

Obviously, this is not what people consciously think, but if Mike Bloomberg could wave his wand and give all teachers 401K's, it would seriously take the wind out of the reform sails. That is to say, the money would suddenly start going to different think tanks, lobbyists, NGO's, etc.

1 comment:

Leroy's Mom said...

The irony is that many charters sell employment by offering inclusion in state teacher pension systems, and this may be in danger from the IRS,
http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2012/02/10/irs-regulation-could-threaten-charter-school-teachers-pensions
Now this may be a mirage, that disappears because they are fired, not hired, etc., but it's still being used as an enticement to employement.