Do The Math (Opinion page) - Lancaster Sunday News

DO THE MATH
Sunday News

Jan 08, 2011 17:31


National unemployment rates are still hovering over 9 percent.

Federal, state and local governments are facing record deficits.

Rising gas and heating oil prices are taking bigger bites out of consumers' wallets.

Taxpayers are being hit with gigantic bills for pension costs.

And unionized public employees continue to collect yearly raises, while many of their private-sector counterparts are entering a third year of frozen or shrinking paychecks.

Is it any wonder, as a New York Times story published in last week's Sunday News noted, that taxpayers are growing angrier by the moment with the folks whose salaries they subsidize?

Consider teachers. The Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era reported last week that teacher contracts approved in Lancaster County over the past 18 months include average 3.6 percent pay hikes — at a time when school districts are talking about taking an ax to budgets.

School boards might have to cut staff and programs to pay for soaring teacher pension costs, particularly since state law sharply limits the percentage by which districts can raise taxes.

Teachers, of course, aren't the only unionized public workers who seem to be immune from economic reality in the wake of the Great Recession. Police and firefighters have gotten nice raises in Lancaster city, for instance, thanks to state law that ties municipalities' hands in the negotiation process, and still pay far less than the average private-sector employee for health insurance. But there aren't as many police and paid firefighters as there are teachers.

We do not blame teacher unions for the whole problem. These contracts were negotiated by districts and approved by elected school boards. Most of the board members quoted in the Intell/New Era story defended the raises they gave teachers as necessary to remain competitive in the educational market.

Um, pardon us for asking, but aren't we in a tight job market? Don't employers have the whip hand in hiring — or do the normal laws of labor supply and demand not apply to schools?

As for teacher pension rates, blame the state Legislature. As we've pointed out before, the pension crisis facing Pennsylvania is largely because lawmakers grabbed fat pension hikes for themselves a decade ago and tossed other public employees, like teachers, bigger benefits to muffle any opposition.

Of course, the situation has been worsened because so many school districts shirked their payments to the pension fund when the stock market was returning high yields on investments.

But teacher unions do seem to be tone-deaf. Years ago, teachers and other public workers were woefully underpaid in comparison to the private sector. Sweet benefits helped to close the gap.

Now, however, teachers have largely caught up. They might not be quite as well-paid as some private employees with equivalent education and experience, but just try finding a private-sector job these days that features virtually no health insurance contributions and a cushy defined-benefit pension plan.

Yet teacher contracts continue to raise salaries, even though taxpayers cannot afford the tab.

In some Lancaster County districts, administrators have voluntarily accepted a wage freeze — recognizing the painful economic choices facing their districts. Wouldn't it be wise for teachers to do likewise?

Imagine the good public-relations impact of teachers saying: We'll bite the bullet with you. We'll shoulder the burden with you. We're all in this together.

Political times are changing. In Harrisburg, Republicans are taking control of the Legislature and governor's mansion, with a mandate to cut spending in the face of a looming $4 billion deficit. Teacher benefits could be on the chopping block.

A little shared pain could hurt a lot less than that.

Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/335065#ixzz1Aaw0snOB