Massachusetts
Pensions vs. classrooms: Rising retirement costs are squeezing Massachusetts education – The Boston Globe
While standardized test scores of Massachusetts students are still mostly below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, one education statistic that keeps rising is the cost to the state of funding teachers’ pensions.
In a new report on pension costs across six populous states including Massachusetts, we found that in the Bay State, 14 cents of every tax dollar dedicated to associated education spending went to pensions in 2022. That’s up from 9 cents in 2015 and far above the 8 cents forked over by taxpayers in our runner-up state, California.
Despite this increase in resources, the financial strength of the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System hasn’t improved. Over this period, the percentage of assets the fund has relative to the value of its pension commitments remained consistently low, increasing from just below 57 percent to just below 58 percent.
Yes that’s right, MTRS has less than 58 cents saved for every dollar it owes, even under its assumption of a 7.15 percent return on investments every year. To put that in perspective, MTRS would consider a $100,000 payment due in 10 years as “fully funded” if it had just over $50,000 in its account today. And yet, this eye-popping increase in cash has barely kept MTRS treading water. This means that without policy reforms, Bay State taxpayers will probably pay an increasingly hefty bill.
While the MTRS funding ratio and contribution increases are worse than its peers, these trends reflect a nationwide problem. Public pensions when properly measured are underfunded to the tune of $5.12 trillion, and the cost burden on state and local governments is increasing.
To understand how the contribution increases impact education, consider that Massachusetts’ current education budget for fiscal 2024 is $7.95 billion. The fact that pension contributions have increased by 5 percentage points translates into $398 million per year of additional money going into the fund than if the share had remained at its 2015 level.
This means that the state has $398 million fewer dollars per year to dedicate to important expenditures such as salaries for new teachers, classroom resources, or support services such as counselors, technicians, or librarians.
State revenues generally rise of course, as they have in recent years, giving the state more money at its disposal to offset these increases. For example, while pension contributions per pupil in Massachusetts have risen by 109 percent since 2015, revenues per pupil have increased by 21 percent, softening the blow.
Yet this pace of revenue growth is not guaranteed. While Massachusetts fiscal 2025 budget foresees a $2 billion or roughly 3.5 percent spending increase, the incremental revenues are coming mostly from the significant Fair Share tax increase. Money to fund education, pensions, and other public priorities does not grow on trees. It comes out of taxpayers’ pockets.
Massachusetts officials could address the pension challenge through one key policy change: moving new employees from traditional defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans similar to 401(k)s.
Current teachers typically receive pensions based on a formula that uses a series of inputs including employees’ salaries, the ages of the employees, and the number of years of employees’ service. If an employee leaves their job, pension benefits are reduced or lost.
401(k)-type plans conversely require the state to contribute a flat percent of pay to a tax-deferred account as long as the employee is working in the job. Employees who leave the job can take their full accumulated retirement savings with them, and the state avoids the creation of more long-term obligations.
The mobility of 401(k)-type plans could attract more young people to the teaching profession, since they often prioritize flexibility early in their careers. While public sector defined benefit plans tend to be more generous than private sector 401(k) plans, that difference can be reduced by offering higher employer contributions. This setup would vastly improve the state’s finances while ensuring that retirement contributions do not continue to consume ever-increasing shares of education budgets.
Ultimately the burden of pension contributions will threaten the Commonwealth’s ability to remain a national leader in education. It would serve the state and its valued teachers well to move to a more sustainable model for retirement benefits before it’s too late.
Joshua Rauh is a professor of finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Gregory Kearney is a senior research analyst at the Hoover Institution.
Massachusetts
Mass. House votes to set new rules for DiZoglio’s audit
Twenty-eight lawmakers dissented Wednesday as the Massachusetts House voted to set new terms around what state Auditor Diana DiZoglio would be able to review in the legislative audit voters authorized her to carry out in 2024.
Almost all House Democrats voted for the measure, which also proposes to make more state government records accessible to the public. Three Democrats — Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly, Attleboro Rep. Jim Hawkins and Fall River Rep. Alan Silvia — joined the body’s 25 Republicans in voting no.
Speaker Ron Mariano said the bill responds to an ongoing call from voters for more transparency out of Beacon Hill and provides a path forward in lieu of a what he called “politically motivated audit conducted in violation of the Constitution.”
Leaders of the House and Senate have resisted DiZoglio’s audit push, arguing that a probe by the auditor’s office would run afoul of the separation of powers laid out in the state Constitution, bringing the legislative branch under the review of a piece of the executive branch.
“We are not accountable to any constitutional officer,” said Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat. “We are only accountable to our constituents.”
Taunton Rep. Lisa Field, a Democrat in her first term, said she was among the 72% of Massachusetts voters who backed the audit ballot question in 2024.
“Due to legitimate concerns and questions about constitutional privileges and separation of powers, we have been stuck on this audit issue for more than a year,” Field said. “Let’s not be like Washington, D.C. and accept such gridlock — not about the audit and not about public records. Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good progress.”
The House’s bill would authorize DiZoglio to review what it defines as the “administrative functions” of the Legislature, going back to the 2021 fiscal year. Those areas include the adoption of annual budgets, official audits of the House and Senate by independent firms, spending by both chambers, and the execution of any financial settlements with lawmakers and employees.
It would also newly apply the state’s public records law to the governor’s office, and create a process by which people could request and receive certain legislative files.
Massachusetts is currently the only state where the Legislature, governor and judiciary all claim to be exempt from the public records law.
Warren Republican Rep. Todd Smola described the process that led up to Wednesday’s vote as opaque in and of itself. Mariano last week said the House would take up what he called comprehensive transparency legislation, but did not say when or what, specifically, the bill would do.
The bill was circulated to members of the House Ways and Means Committee around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and committee members had a little over a half hour to vote on whether to advance it. Smola, the ranking Republican on the committee, said during that 34-minute window, “we had members on both sides of the political aisle that were calling each other back and forth to say, ‘Can you explain this portion to me?’”
“We are so much better than the process that has unfolded,” he said. “And for the sake of people that are asking us for transparency, that is not transparency. That’s the opposite of transparency.”
Rep. Michael Soter, a Bellingham Republican, said he was particularly concerned with a part of the bill that removes the courts from settling disputes between the auditor and the Legislature.
He said that by setting its own rules around an audit, the House would be “ensuring the auditor can only see exactly what we allow her to see and nothing more.”
It’s not clear yet if the Senate will pass the bill. Last week, state senators voted to turn over a limited set of documents to DiZoglio. The documents the Senate plans to provide mirror the records she would be allowed to review under the House bill.
Asked if he expected the Senate to agree to the legislation, Mariano on Tuesday said only, “I talked to the Senate.”
Massachusetts
French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston
BOSTON, MA — An international restaurant group with locations across the globe is preparing to open its first Massachusetts restaurant this year.
LPM Restaurant & Bar, a French Riviera-inspired restaurant founded in London, is set to open on the second floor of the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street in Back Bay, according to Four Seasons. The hotel lists the restaurant as “Opening Summer 2026,” while the Boston Business Journal reported the restaurant plans to open in September.
The Boston restaurant will mark LPM’s debut in the Northeast and its third U.S. outpost, following locations in Miami and Las Vegas, according to a Four Seasons announcement.
LPM, also known as La Petite Maison, was founded in London in 2007 and is known for French-Mediterranean food, Mediterranean ingredients and dining rooms influenced by Belle Époque design.
The business operates locations in London, Dubai, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Riyadh, Limassol, Doha, Mykonos, Kuwait, Boston, Maldives and Bangkok.
Four Seasons said LPM will take over the space that formerly housed One Dalton’s breakfast concept, One + One. The restaurant will join other dining options at the hotel, including Zuma and Trifecta.
See Also:
Massachusetts
Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer
A Massachusetts high school is under investigation after “several” teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions.
The state Department of Public Health is set to visit Uxbridge High School on Thursday to “conduct a series of air quality tests,” to determine whether the multiple cases are potentially connected.
Superintendent David Ljungberg and Principal Michael Rubin alerted families and district staff on Monday of the “sombering news,” after Uxbridge High School’s graduation over the weekend.
“We are writing to inform you about a concern we are investigating at Uxbridge High School,” Ljungberg and Rubin stated in the letter. “Several female teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions over the past few years.”
“It is, of course, possible that these multiple cases are not connected to one another,” the leaders added, “but out of abundance of caution, we are looking into any environmental factors at the school that may be a factor in their diagnoses.”
The 123,000-square-foot school, with an enrollment of roughly 600, was constructed in 2012 at a cost of $45 million, including a $22-million state reimbursement.
Uxbridge school leaders say they notified the state Department of Health and local health board as soon as they became aware of the cases, seeking “counsel about how best to proceed.”
“Massachusetts DPH officials have indicated that there is no evidence of immediate danger in the building and no reason to limit access to or use of the facility at this time,” they wrote in their letter. “In fact, the public health officials have commended our decision to approach them with these concerns, our readiness to partner with them in support of the evaluation process.”
Health officials are assessing the school’s interior and exterior to “ensure there are no issues with the infrastructure that would present risks (including electrical, plumbing, mechanical, HVAC, and other systems)” and the indoor and outdoor air quality on campus.
The superintendent and principal said that state officials have ruled out water supply as a “risk factor” after “thorough testing.”
“The team has reached out to the women who have been diagnosed, requesting data to evaluate whether there may be a connection among their cases,” Ljungberg and Rubin wrote. “We are grateful for their cooperation.”
They added that the state has said discovering an environmental “smoking gun” is “rare” in workplace investigations.
“However, even if a direct causal link is not established,” the leaders wrote, “the administration is utilizing this process to rigorously test the building and guarantee that it meets all safety standards moving forward.”
-
South-Carolina24 seconds ago
Here’s when, where you can vote in South Carolina 2026 primary election
-
South Dakota8 minutes agoSchedule, prediction for 2026 South Dakota softball state tournament
-
Tennessee10 minutes agoTennessee AMC theater worker, 85, receives $146K from strangers for retirement after viral video
-
Texas16 minutes ago
Peanuts, beans and more: Texas Roadhouse discontinued these menu items
-
Utah23 minutes agoHere’s what Utah football player Lance Holtzclaw told U.S. senators about student-athletes’ pay
-
Vermont26 minutes agoNew UVA Coach Cassese Makes Splash, Hires Feifs as Top Assistant
-
Virginia31 minutes agoVSP issues senior alert for missing 63-year-old
-
Washington38 minutes agoWashington priest removed as exorcist after linking UFOs to work of demons