At first glance, the recent teacher-retirement reforms in Ohio seem to bring good fiscal news to school systems in the Buckeye State. Thanks to Senate Bills 341 and 342—and a series of cutbacks on retiree healthcare—the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is projected to spend less on retirement costs in 2020 than it does today. But these reforms come at a big price.
While much of the burden was taken off school districts (and students), it now falls heavily on the shoulders of Cleveland’s newest teachers. (In effect, they are now being taxed to pay for the benefits of other current and past employees.) What will this redistribution of burden mean for those who will teach Cleveland’s children tomorrow? Will the District have more trouble recruiting and keeping a high-quality instructional force for its classrooms?
In Ohio Pension Reform in Cleveland: New Teachers Beware, authors Robert M. Costrell and Larry Maloney project the city’s future retirement obligations and illumine how retirement reform can help solve the pension-funding problem—and some of the accompanying challenges.
