We're continuing to track a pattern of problems with teachers' retirement funds across the nation. In Pennsylvania this week, Governor Rendell maneuvered the state out of making a colossal mandatory contribution to its teacher pension fund that would have meant hefty property tax increases for owners. In a wealthy district like Lower Merion near Philadelphia, the scheduled per household contribution would have risen from $45 to over $90. Now, due to the Governor's plan, that bill will be no more than $51 per household.

How did the Governor avoid the political death knell of a tax increase? He simply refinanced, spreading the scheduled payments over thirty years instead of ten. Future state leadership will have to figure out how to come up with payments that will double by 2006 and then triple by 2012. This is the third year in a row that the state has changed the funding formula for the state's contribution to the pension fund. You don't have to be a financial expert to know that this can't go on forever.