The Latest

Trends in NYC Education Finance: Same Victims New Predator Part 2

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As noted in my previous post on education finance, in FY 1996, total public school expenditure per student – with a cost of living adjustment for NYC – was 1.4% above the U.S. average in FY 1996, and 36.5% above the U.S. average in FY 2009. As we face ongoing cuts to the actual education provided by the New York City schools, this huge increase in the city’s relative spending has changed my understanding of what the cause of decreased educational quality is — underfunding compared with being cheated of fair value.

But most of those discussing education finance policy are either funded or supported by those with a self-interest in taking more for themselves, or tribally aligned with one position or another and unwilling to consider facts contrary to their world view. Thus, according to many people who have commented on my internet comments, posts or reports over the years, what has actually changed is that I have gone from someone in the pocket of the United Federation of Teachers who hates the suburbs and Upstate New York, to someone in the pocket of corporate interests who hates teachers and wants them to eat cat food when they get old. But while facts may interest only me, I’ve done the spreadsheets so I might as well discuss what they say.

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Weiner is on life support. Pelosi says it’s time to go. He enters rehab

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Congressman Anthony Weiner may, emphasized may, have bought himself some more time as he entered rehab, amid calls from major democrats that it’s time to go, like Nancy Pelosi and DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz said Saturday Weiner should resign, calling his sending explicit photos and raunchy emails to women all over the country "indefensible" and a distraction.

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The Gateway (Rehab Edition)

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There is no truth to the rumor that because of my unhealthily obsessive blogging activities, I am taking a leave of absence and checking into rehab.

　

　

Charlie Rangel, who still has a rotary dial on his cell phone, may not be hi-tech, but he has a keen grasp of the Down Low:

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Pensions: He Said He Said

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From the Politicker: "'I don’t know where those numbers come from,' said Bloomberg, speaking on WOR 710 this morning. 'There’s no rational independent group that would say it.'…Deputy Comptroller Alan van Capelle fires back. 'Dollars to doughnuts this out of touch Mayor has not even read our report.”

That's probably true. But I have read the report. Among the many infuriating things in it, Table 2 on page 9 states in big type that the "normal" rates for contributions to (for example) the current NYC teacher's pension plan is 6.4% to 6.8%. That isn't so bad is it? On page 10 "if no further adjustments to pension benefits are made, other assumptions are accurate, and investment returns are equal to the assumed rate (in Chart 4, 8.0 percent), the gap between contributions as a percentage of salary and the entry-age normal rate will narrow." Well guess what. Presumably based on those same assumptions, in tiny print in a table on page 40 (but without a spreadsheet with all the parameters showing how this is calculated) we find that the total contribution would still be about 20% of salary in 2040. And 14.6% of salary — double Liu's boldfaced rate — in 2060.

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