Sept. 26, 2010, Mansfield News Journal
BY JESSICA ALAIMO
CentralOhio.com
MANSFIELD — Many public school administrators pay nothing toward their own pensions. But the perk doesn’t stop there.
A lucrative deal allows 84 percent of Ohio superintendents to retire with a higher pension than they otherwise would have earned — all at additional taxpayer expense, according to an analysis of public records by CentralOhio.com and the News Journal.
About half of Ohio districts also give this benefit to other certified administrators, although it’s far less common for other school employees — only 29 of Ohio’s 613 school districts statewide give the perk to teachers or classified staff. Four of those districts are in the Mansfield area.
The practice is officially called “pickup-on-the-pickup.” School districts pay the employee share of the individuals’ retirement contribution, and then consider it extra salary for pension purposes at a total cost of 26.4 percent of the employee’s salary.
Only 14 percent of that cost is mandatory. While practiced widely at many schools, this method has received virtually no attention on the state level. Many close to the public pension system process are unfamiliar with the practice, and apparently has never been the focus of statewide legislation.
It is only offered in the pension funds for school employees. Ohio’s other three retirement decline to participate.
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