Misconceptions About Teacher Benefits

Everyone always assumes that, as public employees, teachers must get great benefits. People say it all the time, after finding out that I'm a teacher. But, truth be told, Irene and I have both had private sector jobs and public school jobs, and, hands down, the private sector paid better AND had better benefits.*

The Boston Globe ran an article last week about how cash strapped towns in Massachusetts are having trouble meeting their public employee pension obligations.  I read the article carefully to see if it addressed a common misconception regarding teacher retirement benefits.  It did not. Since teachers are the largest slice of a town's employee costs, average readers may falsely assume that teacher pension costs are a primary drag on their town's pension obligations.

Towns pay zero dollars for teacher retirement pensions in the state of Massachusetts.  In fact, all teachers are required to contribute 11% of their salary into a mostly self-funded pension fund (which is separate from other municipal employees); the state of Massachusetts only contributes 0.61 percent of our salaries towards teacher retirement.  By 2025, the system will be fully funded and teacher contributions will more than take care of the whole thing.

(* but weren't nearly as satisfying!)

(related post on health insurance benefits here)