Reply #29: That is simply not true

[bain_sidhe]

And no amount of repetition is going to make it true. Prop. 5 adds funds for school systems in three ways. A direct increase in school funding of $565 million, plus an annual increase for inflation, an indirect increase from the reduction in schools' out-of-pocket costs for teachers' pension-plan funding, and by reducing the gap between the "basic funding allowance" and the "maximum funding allowance."

This goes TO THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. Whether any of the money makes it into the classroom is up to your local school district. If you have a problem with the way they spend their money, take it up with them.

I should also add, the teachers retirement system is run by the State Office of Retirement Services. Teachers are the only state employees whose pension plans the state currently does NOT fund completely. Local communities don't fund the retirement plans of Judges, State Police, and other state employees (the other retirement plans administered by this office). The reason local schools pay *any* of it is that they have more control over teachers employment (salary, working conditions and healthcare benefits). But the retirement system is a STATE benefit, not a local school district benefit. They didn't put it together, and they don't administer it. It's not the local school districts' retirement plan, it's the STATE'S retirement plan.