Higher education appropriations are often referred to as the "balance wheel" for state budgets, receiving greater than average funding reductions during economic downturns and above average increases during periods of economic growth. However, this trend has gradually diminished with each recession as higher education funding no longer…

Hybrid retirement plans that combine defined benefit pensions with 401(k) type, defined contribution accounts can play important roles in the reform of public-sector pensions. Summarizing results from our longer report ["How Will Rhode Island's New Hybrid Pension Plan Affect Teachers? A Report of the Public Pension Project" (2014)], this…

Rising costs of public employee pension plans are a source of fiscal stress in many cities and states and have led to calls for reform. To assess the economic consequences of plan changes it is important to have reliable statistical models of employee retirement behavior. The authors estimate a structural model of teacher retirement using…

The Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois is one of the worst-funded public pensions in the nation. In 2013, it held enough assets to cover only 41 percent of its future obligations (Buck Consultants, 2014). This shortfall has led to several reforms, mostly involving benefit cuts that have undermined retirement income security for…

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of financial factors on motivating college students to consider teaching in hard-to-staff rural schools. The role of perceived respectability of the profession was also explored. Design/methodology/approach: This work relies on an explanatory sequential mixed-method design, that…

This article summarizes the Governor Budget proposals in the New England region. Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut proposed restructuring, refinancing the systems' payments and slowing the rate of increase in the teachers' pension fund and the state employee pension fund, both of which are underfunded. Lamont also announced that for the first…

Public pension systems in many U.S. states face large funding shortfalls. Movement toward defined contribution (DC) pension structures may reduce the likelihood of future shortfalls. We address some limitations of the existing literature by studying public-sector employees who are enrolled in either a defined benefit (DB) plan or hybrid DB-DC…

Pensions are a promise made today of benefits to be received tomorrow. They reward employees, including public school teachers, who remain working in a system for extended periods, often for their entire careers. And they impose large costs on those who leave before reaching retirement eligibility--all in the hopes of encouraging them to stay.…

After many years of labor peace, public school teachers have engaged in strikes and work stoppages in record numbers during the past two years. Chief among the demands of striking teachers was higher pay. Discontent was also expressed with working conditions, which teachers and their unions connected to flat or declining state spending on…

This teaching case addresses the design of a database that fulfills the complex requirements found at the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan, an actual entity. With the goal of challenging students to think analytically and to apply information systems concepts and tools to real world situations, the case study was appropriately structured to…

As states and localities across the nation consider the tradeoffs between defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension systems, it is important to gain insight into what implications pension reforms might have on workforce composition and teachers' retirement savings behavior. Moreover, it is also important to consider that…

The School District of Philadelphia is contributing historically high sums to the state-run pension system for its employees, and these hefty payments will affect budgets for the district and the city government for years to come. Unlike Philadelphia's municipal government, the School District of Philadelphia does not control the pension system…

The 2022-2023 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the ninth consecutive edition of this study. The 2022-2023 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracked the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country.…

Vice-chancellor salaries have been a topic of media interest and scholarly research for decades. In recent years, however, the media's interest and criticism of vice-chancellors' salaries has escalated, as negativity surrounding university performance and administration has led to a significant increase in articles concerning these matters. This…