Civil Servants Find Themselves Cast in Unlikely Role -- Fat Cats

Move over Wall Street traders -- seems there's a new vampire squid in town. Civil servants? Passage Tuesday of a controversial bill sending billions of dollars to states to shore up payrolls for public school teachers further stoked the debate over whether government employees, their unions and their benefits packages are bankrupting the country.

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"As a society, we meant well but we overpromised," said Carol Kellerman, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a New York City nonprofit group that seeks to curb wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. "These benefits to civil servants are no longer sustainable."

From cash-strapped California, where the public school teachers have been hammered as the highest-paid in the country, to Connecticut, where an assistant police chief in New Haven recently made headlines for retiring at age 48 with a six-figure annual pension, public workers, fairly or not, are increasingly the target of public scrutiny and scorn.

"We're in a difficult economic situation right now where a lot of people in the private sector are losing their jobs and benefits," said Jon Shure, deputy director of the State Fiscal Project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Some political forces and commentators play off that fear and uncertainty to foster anger against those fortunate enough to still have economic security, saying, in effect, 'Look at these public sector workers leeching off your hard-earned dollars.'"

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Civil Servant Benefits Blamed for Broke States

Shure, along with several advocates of public workers, pointed out several reasons why they say the growing negative perception surrounding public sector wages and benefits is unfounded:

• Contrary to widely reported tales of outrageous pension abuse, the average annual pension collected by U.S. public servants is around $20,000, according to the CBPP and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
  
• Only one-fourth of the money used to fund most civil service pension funds, including firefighters and police, comes from taxpayers; the rest come from employee contributions and investment returns.
  
• While state pension deficits are said to be in aggregate in excess of $1 trillion, the figure becomes far less staggering when put in the context of when the benefits are slated, on average, to be paid out -- over three decades, said Steven Kreisberg, AFSCME's director of collective bargaining. "Taken over 30 years, it's 2 percent of state budgets," he said.

"Trust me, teachers are hardly retiring with golden parachutes and living out their years floating on yachts," said John Abraham, director of benefits for the American Federation of Teachers.

According to Abraham, the average public school teacher earns $50,000 and retires on an annual pension of around $29,000. Roughly two-thirds of that comes from teacher contributions and investment returns, with the rest coming from tax dollars, he estimated.

Meanwhile, some 25 percent of all public teachers aren't even eligible for Social Security because of opt-out provisions certain states agreed to in the 1980s.

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Aid Could Restore Teaching Jobs

Lately, it seems Milwaukee teachers have generated far more headlines for demanding that their health care plan cover the cost of Viagra than for anything ever accomplished in the classroom.

Drawing further scrutiny, the Milwaukee teachers union was singled out in a Wall Street Journal editorial Wednesday lambasting the education stimulus. The Journal said the teachers union caused the layoffs by being unwilling to adjust their rich benefits.

"In Milwaukee, for example, nearly all of the ... teacher layoffs ... could have been avoided if the unions had agreed to change health plans that cost $23,000 per teacher per year" the Journal wrote. "They could have accepted a still-rich $17,000 plan. The unions chose the layoffs betting (correctly) that the Democrats in Washington would come to their rescue."

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In reality, there are two plans offered, one of them indeed more expensive. Older, higher-earning Milwaukee teachers, which make up the bulk of the faculty, tend to choose a more-expensive plan, albeit one with a higher out-of-pocket deductible, while newer, younger, healthier and lower-earning teachers tend to select the less-expensive plan, which carries a lower out-of-pocket deductible.

So even if all teachers were shifted to the less expensive plan with the lower deductible, "it would quickly become more expensive on a per person basis, because the older teachers would require more coverage," Langyel said.

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A School District Gets Creative

At least one public school district appears determined to keep its fiscal house in order without any stimulus and without attracting taxpayer ire.

Faced with a budget gap of $2.5 million earlier this year, the Portage Public School District in southwestern Michigan offered some 500 teachers the option of a voluntary early retirement, which 56 teachers accepted, while asking the remaining teachers to work one extra hour per day, covering more classes, said Tom Vance, a spokesman for the school district.

One year earlier, Portage teachers agreed to a 2 percent pay cut.

"We try not to rely on any miracles coming out of Washington," Vance said. "Things have been so tough here in Michigan for so long, we've learned to get by our own. We've learned to be creative."

Move over Wall Street traders -- seems there's a new vampire squid in town. Civil servants?
Photo: Civil Servants Find Themselves Cast in Unlikely Role ? Fat Cats: From Working Class Heroes to Drain on Society, Teachers, Cops and Firefighters Face Growing Backlash over Benefits

Teachers and students outside of Oakland High School in Oakland, Calif., hold signs as they protest during a one-day strike in April 2010 over a new contract leaving them without a pay raise. Passage Tuesday of a controversial bill sending billions of dollars to states to shore up pay for public school teachers further stoked the debate over whether public employees, their unions and their benefits packages are bankrupting the country.

Passage Tuesday of a controversial bill sending billions of dollars to states to shore up payrolls for public school teachers further stoked the debate over whether government employees, their unions and their benefits packages are bankrupting the country.

"[The bill] will make the teachers unions happy, but it won't make teaching in schools better," said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., at a press conference Tuesday during which he and other Republican leaders criticized legislation earmarking $26 billion in aid for school districts and other state agencies.

As the recession grinds on and states struggle to close budget gaps, a spotlight is shining on the salary and benefits collected by public sector professionals, including teachers, police officers and firefighters. They once commonly were viewed as the salt-of-the-earth backbone of America. But now, they are more often than not being portrayed as a boilerplate around taxpayers' necks.

"Meanwhile, some 25 percent of all public teachers aren't even eligible for Social Security because of opt-out provisions certain states agreed to in the 1980s. "

As someone who knows a bunch of teachers I have to say that this right here is complete and utter BS. You work for a # of years and pay in to SS for more than 40 quarters but you don't get to collect SS like the rest of us. Well, technically you can but they reduce your pension payment by that amount so in reality you don't get it. Meanwhile a ton of other public employees are receiving both a pension and SS and those lucky enough in private to get a pension also get SS.

I don't doubt that it's not a bad gig working for the federal gov't right now but those charts that make it look like they all make 2x as much as the rest of us are pretty damn misleading. I wonder if those serving in the armed services are included because we all know they make jack shit and would probably hugely bring the #'s down s they are probably excluded in these compensation comparisons...

I guess this guy got no problem when its COPS who are abusing the system...

Typical

But when it comes to teacher bashing...... count on it

Contrary to widely reported tales of outrageous pension abuse, the average annual pension collected by U.S. public servants is around $20,000, according to the CBPP and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

What on earth are you babbling about?

Teachers are mentioned because they got a bailout from the Democrats.

As someone who knows a bunch of teachers I have to say that this right here is complete and utter BS. You work for a # of years and pay in to SS for more than 40 quarters but you don't get to collect SS like the rest of us. Well, technically you can but they reduce your pension payment by that amount so in reality you don't get it. Meanwhile a ton of other public employees are receiving both a pension and SS and those lucky enough in private to get a pension also get SS.

I don't doubt that it's not a bad gig working for the federal gov't right now but those charts that make it look like they all make 2x as much as the rest of us are pretty damn misleading. I wonder if those serving in the armed services are included because we all know they make jack shit and would probably hugely bring the #'s down s they are probably excluded in these compensation comparisons...

comprende......

What on earth are you babbling about?

Teachers are mentioned because they got a bailout from the Democrats.

Obviously you didn't read the article posted on Abcnews but instead read the edited teacher union bashing that this OP decided to edit in his/her favor

The Abcnews article refers to TEACHERS, COPS and FIREFIGHTERS who all recieved a nice bailout...

But then the OP decided to ignore the cops and firefighter and choose to single out the teachers for bashing...

comprende......