Similar Stories to Strike Or No Strike, Pensions Problematic For La Schools on Bing News

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Strike or no strike, after a deal is ultimately reached on a contract for Los Angeles teachers, the school district will still be on a collision course with deficit spending because of pensions and other financial obligations. School systems across California are experiencing burdensome payments to the state pension fund while struggling to improve schools. The problem is especially acute for districts like Los Angeles Unified that will see a financial hit in part because of steadily declining enrollment. As fewer students enroll, public schools get less in per-pupil funding from the state, said Helen Cregger, an analyst and vice president at the financial services company Moody's. "Then comes the tradeoff between making good on pension promises and what you're capable of offering in salaries," she said. The downward trend in enrollment is due to skyrocketing housing costs that keep families with school-age kids out of the city and the growth of charters — privately operated public schools that compete for students and the funds they bring in. Los Angeles is among the school districts across California that are not well-positioned to manage the coming confluence of slower revenue growth, declining enrollment and rising pension contribution rates, according to a Moody's study published in September 2018. The LA district's contributions to the state's two large pension plans — California State Teachers' Retirement System and the California Public Employees' Retirement System — amounted to about 5.5 percent of the budget in the 2014-15 school year.Read more on NewsOK.com