Report: Teacher pensions don’t hinder recruitment

But the Maryland State Teachers Association calls the report 'sloppy' and 'untimely'

By Alan Brody, Staff Writer, The Gazette
Published on Friday, December 15, 2006
ANNAPOLIS — Maryland’s teacher pension system, labeled one of the worst in the nation by union activists before the state legislature passed a $120 million enhancement plan this year, has not hampered recruitment and retention efforts, according to a report issued this week by a conservative-leaning think tank. ‘‘Increased state spending on defined benefit pension plans like Maryland’s is unlikely to be a cost-efficient way to staff classrooms with qualified teachers,” wrote Michael Podgursky, an economics professor at the University of Missouri who wrote the study jointly released by the Maryland Public Policy Institute in Germantown and the Abell Foundation in Baltimore.

Is It Time To Rethink Teacher Pensions In Maryland?

By Michael Podgursky, Ph.D.
Published on Tuesday, December 05, 2006
The Abell Foundation and the Maryland Public Policy Institute have released a joint study that challenges the claim that Maryland’s teacher pension system is hampering teacher recruitment and retention. The study, authored by University of Missouri economist Michael Podgursky, Ph.D., a specialist in the teacher labor market, finds that Maryland’s traditional teacher pension system was on par with peer states. His findings will likely be controversial; coming just months after the 2006 General Assembly approved an expensive increase in teacher pensions, and prior to a 2007 General Assembly in which the state’s teachers union is expected to push for an additional increase. More importantly, the study raises the question: If the teacher retirement plan is on par with other states, then why is Maryland really losing young teachers to other states? In “Is It Time To Rethink Teacher Pensions in Maryland?” Prof. Podgursky finds that in terms of simple income replacement rates, the traditional Maryland teacher pension system did appear to be among the worst in the nation. However, this measure does not accurately reveal the value of teachers’ pensions.Podgursky finds: “Given the high professional mobility of public school teachers, education policy makers should consider providing Maryland teachers with a defined contribution alternative to the current system — a plan that would ‘travel with’ mobile teachers.”

Raising teacher pensions hikes costs and does not help student performance

By The Baltimore Examiner
Published on Tuesday, December 05, 2006
BALTIMORE - Baltimore’s trusted Abell Foundation recently released a report debunking the myth that Maryland’s teacher pension plan hurt efforts to recruit and retain good educators. Finally, some closure for this issue? The Maryland State Teacher’s Association had advocated for a pension hike so as to better recruit and retain teachers. It complained that Maryland teachers received the worst retirement benefits in the nation. Yet the study found “There is no evidence that variation in defined benefit plans affects teachers’ turnover. Ironically, teachers have one of the most attractive defined benefit pension systems, yet teacher turnover remains very high, primarily due to high rates of turnover among young teachers.” It also found that when combined with Social Security — something teachers in many other states will not receive — Maryland’s pension system prior to the increases enacted this spring compared favorably to other states. That finding alone eliminates any reason for the state teacher union to complain. We wish this study, done in cooperation with the Maryland Public Policy Institute, had been completed prior to April, when Gov. Robert Ehrlich signed a bill into law that raised retiree benefits for teachers. It would have injected some common sense into what became a very emotional debate. Those who retire after 30 years will now receive 54 percent of their total salary each year, up from 42 percent. It will cost Marylanders $120 million this year and about $1.67 billion over 25 years — a quarter of what the union requested.

Focus Group Study: Foster Care Families, Children, and Education

Published on Thursday, November 30, 2006
The Maryland Public Policy Institute is working to spearhead initiatives that help children entrusted in the foster care system to simultaneously receive a high-quality education. Many of these children experience unstable and often abusive living conditions. Social service placement typically requires frequent relocations for these wards of the courts: home-to-home, community-to-community and school-to-school. At this time, The Maryland Public Policy Institute has enlisted the services of Baltimore Research to conduct research that will aid in gaining a better understanding of the impact of foster care on the education of those in its charge.

Former Foster Children and Parents Stress Need for Better Educational Options

Focus Group Participants Say Current System Needs Improvement

Published on Thursday, November 30, 2006
GERMANTOWN, MD, November 30, 2006- Former foster children and foster parents in Maryland highlighted the lack of a quality education as a common problem faced in the foster care system during an August focus group, the results of which were published today by the Maryland Public Policy Institute.  “The real-life experiences of those in the foster care system emphasize the need to provide better opportunities for children in foster care,” said Christopher Summers, president of MPPI.“Foster children are among the most at-risk groups in our community.Providing these children with a quality education is a key to giving them the opportunity to succeed in life.”

15 Questions Maryland's Teachers Should Ask Their Unions

By Tom Neumark
Published on Monday, November 06, 2006
It is election season again, and across the state local teachers’ unions are campaigning for the candidates featured on their Apple Ballot, which they will distribute to large numbers of voters this November. The Apple Ballot enjoys a somewhat privileged place in the minds of Maryland’s voters because of its claims to represent the views of teachers. But the union’s interests do not always coincide with the public’s interest in improving education, or even the interests of the teachers themselves. Just as the union issues questionnaires to political candidates prior to endorsing them, this paper in turn asks some questions of the unions. This should not be construed as “teacher bashing,” “anti-union,” or “anti-public education,” as unions sometimes label those who offer alternatives to their policies, but rather as a critical examination of whether teacher unionization and the policies unions support have benefited teachers and the general public. It is healthy for any organization—especially one that claims to have the public’s best interests at heart—to be challenged from time to time. The Maryland State Teachers Association and its affiliates have been asking candidates questions for decades. The time has come to ask them some questions as well.

Stripping Students' Rights

Originally published in the Baltimore City Paper

By Jason Torres
Published on Tuesday, September 19, 2006
On Sept. 19, a bill that was first proposed in May, called the Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006 (HR 5295), passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. It has not yet passed in the Senate, but if it does, it will require school districts around the country to empower teachers and school officials to conduct broad searches of students and their property. The National School Boards Association has gone on record as being against the bill, stating in a letter to the House that "while this legislation is well intentioned, it nonetheless constitutes bad policy and seems to reflect a basic misunderstanding of the separation of powers under the United States Constitution."

Baltimore Students Deserve School Vouchers

Originally published on FoxNews.com

By Dan Lips
Published on Friday, August 25, 2006
Bad news just keeps coming for Baltimore City public schools. The city’s high-school graduation rate has slipped below 40 percent -- worse than every city in America except Detroit. State education officials recently labeled six Baltimore City public schools as “persistently dangerous.” Some 22,000 students languish in schools that have failed state benchmarks for six or more years. Unfortunately, Maryland state lawmakers appear unwilling to reform even the worst public schools in Baltimore City. During the last legislative session, Gov. Robert Ehrlich proposed a state takeover of 11 chronically failing public schools. The General Assembly not only approved a measure to delay changes for one year, it overrode Gov. Ehrlich’s veto of the legislation. Yet change could come to city schools if the Bush administration and some in Congress have their way. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently joined lawmakers on Capitol Hill to unveil a plan to give private-school scholarships to disadvantaged students in some of the country’s lowest-performing public schools. The Opportunity Scholarship Initiative would provide $100 million in grants to cities such as Baltimore with a high density of failing schools. The grants would be used to give low-income public-school students scholarships to attend private school or intensive after-school tutoring programs. Only students in the lowest-performing public schools would be eligible. In Baltimore, that would include more than 40 schools, attended by more than a quarter of the city’s public-school students.

Better ways to address worthy priorities

Originally published in the Herald-Mail

By Thomas A. Firey
Published on Sunday, August 13, 2006
HAGERSTOWN - Washington County Commissioners candidate Paul Swartz is to be applauded for clearly defining two policies that he would push if elected ("Education, tax relief are priorities," July 23.) Doing this sets him apart from the too-many candidates who campaign on the haziest of ideas. Swartz vows to tackle two crucial local issues: increasing the number of county workers with higher education and easing the property tax burden. Concerning the former, workers in today's economy who want success and financial security will need the critical thinking, occupational training and adaptability skills that college and/or advanced job training can provide. Concerning the latter, soaring tax assessments are becoming increasingly onerous, especially for seniors.

Program could fund money for private schools

Originally published in the Carroll County Times

By Tomas Pagan-Motta
Published on Sunday, July 16, 2006
Carroll foster children could receive scholarships that will allow them to attend high-quality public or private schools from kindergarten to grade 12 if proposed legislation passes the Maryland General Assembly next year.The Maryland Public Policy Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research and education organization, drafted a program in 2005 that became the framework behind a law passed in Arizona that grants $5,000 scholarships to foster children looking to attend private schools.