U. NAZARETH TWP. | Two school boards this week joined the Bangor Area School Board in passing resolutions urging the state Legislature to reform the laws that govern teacher pension plans.
On Monday, the Nazareth Area School Board passed it and on Tuesday the Saucon Valley School Board did so as well.
The payment from local school districts into the Public School Employees' Retirement System could increase more than 30 percent by 2012-13 and bankrupt some districts by 2015, school officials said.
Teachers make fixed payments into the system while school districts and the state, which reimburses districts on average half of their pension share, pay fluctuating rates.
This year school districts were only required to contribute 4.78 percent of their payroll into the fund. That rate increases to 8.22 percent next fiscal year.
Saucon Valley Business Manager David Bonenberger said some districts, including Saucon Valley, have budgeted above the required contribution rates to build savings to cushion the blow from the increase. But that money won't be enough to cover a spike as great as 30 percent, he said.
"We all know there is a pension crisis," Nazareth Superintendent Victor Lesky told the board. "We are looking for an intervention. We're asking the state to intervene. I think that the board's voice, along with the other school districts in Pennsylvania, should be heard."
Nazareth Area School District solicitor Preston Moritz said the resolution is "like writing a letter to the editor. It's ceremonial, but certainly there is strength in numbers."
Lesky suggested a hybrid system for current teachers that features a traditional pension coupled with the 401(k) systems featured in private industries.
Saucon officials said the Pennsylvania School Boards Association planned to use the resolutions to help the organization lobby for change in Harrisburg.
Nazareth teachers union President Aris Asdourian could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Express Times
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