Rising pension costs play role in teacher protests across US

Thousands of Colorado teachers walked off the job and closed down schools last week to protest stagnant pay and school funding shortfalls. (Shutterstock)

DENVER — Rising pension costs are eating away at teacher pay in Colorado and other states.

Thousands of Colorado teachers walked off the job and closed down schools last week to protest stagnant pay and school funding shortfalls.

But one of the biggest reasons for lagging pay is also one of the least understood. The pension issue has played a role in a teacher uprising sweeping the U.S.

A study found that school districts nationwide are spending more to pay off unfunded benefits for past generations of workers.

In Colorado, school district payments to the public pension fund have roughly doubled since 2006. That has squeezed budgets when the state also was cutting funding during the economic downturn.

In that time, the average teacher salary has lost 8 per cent of its buying power to inflation.