Resources

Teachers and other employees of the School District of Philadelphia receive their retirement benefits from the Pennsylvania state retirement plan for schools, which includes both a defined-benefit pension plan and a modest retiree health benefit. The cost of the former is expected to rise quite substantially and, as this technical analysis will show, presents a daunting burden for the district in the near future.

What will the burden of retirement benefits actually be in the future? What impact will it have on the School District of Philadelphia’s budget? How much effect could this have on the classroom?

In Paying the Pension Price in Philadelphia, authors Robert Costrell and Larry Maloney analyze and project the future retirement obligations in Philadelphia and illuminate the nature and scale of the pension-funding problem.