Michigan's education time bomb: Costly, loophole-ridden retirement system threatens public schools

The Detroit News reports:

Michigan's school retirement system is riddled with loopholes and slipshod policies costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and driving the state's public education system toward financial crisis.

Schools are laying off teachers, scrapping programs and mothballing extracurricular activities to pay for the spiraling pension and health care bills of retirees -- some of whom qualify for generous benefits by skirting state retirement policies, often with the knowledge and assistance of the state office charged with administering the $3.5 billion program.

The impact could be devastating to public education in Michigan, the only state that makes its schools bear the entire burden of retiree pensions and health care. This year's bill -- an estimated $1,015 per student -- is more than schools spend on books, buses, computer technology and building maintenance combined.

And it's going to get worse.

The retirement assessment -- set by the state but paid by individual school districts -- is now at a record high of 17.74 percent of each district's payroll. That rate is expected to jump to 30 percent by 2020 -- a level that all sides agree would break the backs of Michigan schools.

Your tax increase is their generous retirement.Allowing government workers to vote leads to this financial ruin.It's time to separate school from state.