The ticking pension bomb

Terry Ryan / July 23, 2008

While America Aged: How Pension Debt Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis
Roger Lowenstein
The Penguin Press
2008

The economic news this summer has been bleak. We've witnessed, and felt the pain of, bank closures, surging oil prices, growing inflation, and higher unemployment. When it comes to the economy, few of us can bring ourselves to think about problems like our looming retirement crisis, but Roger Lowenstein's sobering book While America Aged shows we ignore it at our peril.

Lowenstein, a veteran Wall-Street Journal reporter, notes that America has approximately 38 million senior citizens, a number that will nearly double to 72 million in a generation and reach one in five by 2030. The Census projects that Ohioans over 65 will increase from 13 percent to 20 percent between 2000 and 2030. Lowenstein argues we are "sitting on a retirement time bomb." A third of Americans do not have any retirement savings-no pension, no 401(k), no private retirement account of any kind.

For those with a pension, Lowenstein shows, assets are grossly inadequate to meet future costs. Using numbers from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the FDIC of private pensions), Lowenstein reports that, "In the private sector, employers' pension funds are cumulatively, an astounding $350 billion in deficit," and the public sector is even in worse shape. States and localities that have promised pensions "to millions of present and future retired policemen,

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The ticking pension bomb

Two top-flight charters set to open in Columbus

Mike Lafferty / July 23, 2008

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation (our sister organization) is excited to be sponsoring two new charter schools opening in August in Columbus. They will be run by exceptional young school leaders with extensive school leadership training from two of the nation's premier school management programs-the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) (see here) and Building Excellent Schools (BES) (see here). The KIPP Journey Academy is located in the Linden Park neighborhood and ultimately will serve 331 students in grades five through eight when it is at full enrollment in 2012-2013. In 2008, KIPP Journey expects to serve 96 fifth graders. The Columbus Collegiate Academy is located in the Weinland Park neighborhood and ultimately will serve 336 students in grades six through eight when it is at full enrollment in 2011-2012. In 2008, the Columbus Collegiate Academy expects to serve 112 sixth graders.

We believe strongly that the efforts of KIPP Journey school leader Carina Robinson and Columbus Collegiate Academy school leader Andrew Boy will pay big dividends for the children they are privileged to educate.

Carina Robinson, originally from Cleveland, is the founding school leader of KIPP Journey Academy and a graduate of the KIPP School Leadership Program. She taught sixth-grade math at the KIPP Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore, Md., and, prior to joining KIPP, Carina taught for 10 years in Ohio.

Andrew Boy spent five years at the W.E.B. DuBois Academy in Cincinnati, an urban charter school where he designed

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Two top-flight charters set to open in Columbus

Delaware-Union and Franklin ESC merger set for New Year

Emmy L. Partin / July 23, 2008

The Delaware-Union County Educational Service Center (ESC) and the ESC of Franklin County will merge in January (see here), creating a multi-county agency that will serve more than 11 percent of Ohio's public-school students.

The new "ESC of Central Ohio" will serve 25 school districts in the three counties and should become a powerful voice in the education debate. It will be led by Franklin County's current superintendent, Bart Anderson, and treasurer, Alan Hutchinson. All employee contracts will be honored by the new ESC.

Ohio's 58 ESCs-soon to be 57 on Jan. 1-are outgrowths of the former county boards of education. They provide a variety of services to area schools, including professional development, special education services, curriculum and instruction planning, technology support, and business and administrative assistance. Funding comes from the Ohio Department of Education and from member districts that contract with them.

The last ESC merger was in 2007, when the Washington County ESC and Guernsey-Monroe-Noble ESC combined to form the Ohio Valley ESC. Such mergers, which usually result when member districts opt to leave one ESC for another, serve as a model for how Ohio's education system can streamline operations and reduce costs without cutting quality or quantity of educational services they provide.

Ohioans have been reticent to consolidate school districts, in large part because schools provide a sense of local identity and serve as the hearts of small communities. The same is not true of ESCs and other regional education

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Delaware-Union and Franklin ESC merger set for New Year

Ohio ed. policy remains a hot summer topic

Emmy L. Partin / July 23, 2008

This month the State Board of Education officially kicked off its search for the state's new superintendent of public instruction. The search is occurring amid continued uncertainty about the actual role and responsibilities of the superintendent if Gov. Strickland gets his way with the creation of a cabinet-level director of education. The board and governor seem in agreement on the wish list of qualifications the next superintendent should have (see here). The hunt is on for a state superintendent with experience as a district superintendent, but some board members and other thoughtful observers such as the Columbus Dispatch aren't sold on seeking a traditional educator to lead the education department (see here and here).

Five months after announcing his intent to overhaul the state's public-education system, Gov. Strickland commenced this week with a series of "conversations" around the state to gather public input on education in Ohio (see here). The governor's office is billing these 12 "Conversations on Education" as giving "local citizens the opportunity to share their thoughts and vet proposed ideas." But the meetings are open to invited guests only. Jane and Joe Ohioan will need to watch them on public TV or online and submit their thoughts to the governor in writing (see here).

Strickland says he is still formulating his plan for the future of the state's K-12 system (including his promised school-funding fix), but the State Board of Education has shared its

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Ohio ed. policy remains a hot summer topic