Teachers at Morristown High School wore black clothes on Wednesday, joining public employees around the state who are protesting Gov. Chris Christie’s cut to the state pension fund.
The protest came as lawyers for the Christie administration appeared before the state Supreme Court to appeal a lower court ruling ordering the Governor and Legislature to restore nearly $1.6 billion that the Governor cut from this year’s pension payment to cover a budget shortfall.
“We didn’t go into this career expecting to make tons of money,” said art teacher Liz Ostendorp, vice president of The Education Association of Morris, the 730-member teachers union for the Morris School District.
“We went for a good, honest living, and changing the lives of children. We had a notion there would be some kind of comfort when we retired,” she said.
“If you don’t have good incentives for good teachers to join the profession, what will happen to teaching in New Jersey?” said Jim Boothby, a graphics teacher at the high school.
The black clothing is meant to symbolize restoring the pension system to the black, said Ostendorp. She said the state pension system is only 54 percent funded, when it should be at 80 percent. At this pace, she said, pension funds will run out by 2027.
Earlier this year a judge ruled that a 2011 law signed by Christie requires full funding. The state pension system affects about 800,000 people, working and retired.
FYI, 80% is not the appropriate funding target. 100% is.
See the following brief from the American Academy of Actuaries:
https://www.actuary.org/files/Pension%20Funding.pdf