Education reform panel to consider teacher pensions

‘I’m not saying we’ll do anything,’ group member says.

A commission Gov. Nathan Deal created to recommend changes to education policy will review teacher pensions.

A member of the group said the potentially controversial topic will only be studied for now and there are no recommendations on the table.

“I’m not saying we’ll do anything,” said the member, State Rep. Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek. “We’re just going to look at it.”

The disclosure at the monthly meeting of the Education Reform Commission this week comes after legislation to change teacher pensions collapsed earlier this year.

Teachers are a loud and organized group, and the last effort inspired an email and telephone campaign that led lawmakers to back off. Proponents of replacing pensions with private savings accounts argued that the state cannot afford to continue funding a defined-benefits plan for teachers. Georgia has already overhauled its retirement system for other state workers.

The governor’s reform commission is already discussing possible changes to the teacher pay structure. Those pro- posals have also earned wrathful emails, causing some lawmakers on the commission to push back.

Currently, teachers are paid based on their level of education and experience, with pay rising as they climb the ladder of training and experience, or “T&E” as it is called. School districts get state tax dollars based on the training and experience level of each of their teachers. Competing proposals would con- tinue that reimbursement policy but let districts pay teachers as they choose, or overhaul the state funding component, funding districts with a fixed amount per teacher.

Dudgeon said his funding subcommittee expects to hear a presentation on Georgia’s teacher retirement system along with reports from experts about retirement systems in other states. He added that Georgia’s teacher pension system is among the best in the country.

Commission members and a liaison from the governor’s office attempted to dampen the political backlash such changes could generate. Recommendations about pensions and pay would affect only future hires, said Erin Hames, Deal’s education policy adviser.

“The important thing to say is that these changes, like the changes on T&E, would not impact current teachers,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting.

TY TAGAMI / AJC State Rep. Mike Dudgeon, R-Johns Creek, tells fellow members of the state Education Reform Commission about his panel’s plans to discuss the Teacher Retirement System of Georgia.