Industry News

In October 2019, the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) released its report, Peaceful Coexistence: The Facts About Pensions and Education Funding.  According to NCPERS, state and local contributions to pension plans can co-exist with education funding when reliable revenue streams exist.  In 2016, the study found that state and local government pension contributions were 4.1% of state revenue as compared with 28.3% for education.

The report examines several recent studies of the impact of pension plans on education spending and includes a state-by-state analysis that compares state expenditures on education and funding with economic and revenue trends.

According to Michael Kahn, NCPERS Director of Research, “revenue systems should be designed to help state and local governments steadily weather the ups and downs in the economy and serve as a source of stable funding for a variety of obligations, including education and pensions.”

The report is available here.