Michigan teacher pension costs climb to nearly $1B per year

By Tom Gantert | Michigan Capitol Confidential.

What started out as a $155 million tab in 2012 for public school employee pension and retirement health care costs will increase to $945 million by 2015, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency.

The driver of the escalating costs is MPSERS’ unfunded liability. The pension system’s unfunded liability was $25.8 billion in 2013, up from $24.3 billion in 2012. The unfunded liability for retiree health care is estimated at another $12.5 billion to $13.4 billion.

The costs for the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System includes the $882.7 million the state is projecting to spend on retirement contributions for K-12 education in 2015 plus the costs for community colleges, libraries and higher education.

at Michigan Capitol Confidential.