Being a teacher is by far one the most under-appreciated jobs in this country. They are the ones who educate our youth into adulthood, and many of them are role-models and people we look up to. To many children and adults they are much more than just educators. Yet the profession has been frowned upon by many for being overpaid, and receiving to many benefits. Nevertheless teachers only earn on average salary in Michigan of $61,650.
Over the past 10 years Michigan public education has been cut severely to the point where it is barely surviving. Now, the state governments are considering to starve public education more by privatizing teacher pensions, which are retirement funds that teachers put into each month based off of their salary. It is a safe and secure place for them to put their saved money into. For many teachers, this is how they will be able to have a decent life once they are done teaching. This in some eyes may seem like a good idea to do, however it would end up being a huge disaster. If the pensions funds switch to a private fund, this would mean it would become a 401 k plan. This is a retirement plan that puts employer’s salaries into investments, and doesn’t keep their retirement money safe. This then puts their entire retirement in the hands of the market.
If the market does well, then they would gain money, however if the markets fail, then teacher’s retirement is put in complete jeopardy. The other main issue at hand here is the man behind this scheme,Tom Arnold, who has been pushing this idea across the country. He is pushing for this because his business deals with these 401 k plans, and it would be giving his business a great deal of income. If teachers pensions turned into 401 k plans it would help Arnold potentially make millions of dollars off the teacher’s retirement money. This is a complete conflict of interest, since Arnold is only pushing for this because he wants to be making more money for his businesses.
Michigan has already done enough to the education community, from cutting its funding, to blaming teachers for all the problems. Making their pensions into 401 k plans would create just another burden for teachers, and create more issues within the education community.