PA's teacher and state employee pensions are over $50 Billion in deficit. The deficit grows approx. $3Billion/year, and has a direct impact on our school property taxes and statewide budget expenditures.
The combined affect of a decade of underfunding by the 500 school districts and the Commonwealth of PA, and stock market reversals, has resulted in our most serious fiscal problem for the state and for future retirees. I will work with my colleagues in the House to address this issue by, first, stopping the growth of the problem, and, second, by finding resources to pay the existing deficit. The solution eludes us at present, but we must deal with it because it directly affects our ability to reduce individual school property taxes across the state. The growing pension obligation also precludes us from adequately funding other priorities, such as Human Services, Environmental Protection, Economic Development, and Heritage Preservation.
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