One of the state’s largest charter school organizations is exploring whether it wants to withdraw from CalPERS, raising alarms among unions and public pension officials who fear a gradual weakening of the fund.
. . . But Aspire’s inquiry about leaving CalPERS comes at a moment when a rising share of new charter schools are declining to enroll their employees in CalPERS and CalSTRS. Instead, they’re offering alternative retirement plans.
Until 2014, about 90 percent of new California charter schools offered retirement benefits through CalSTRS. That ratio dropped to 80 percent four years ago and 67 percent in 2015, according to CalSTRS.
CalSTRS believes that the charters are choosing alternative retirement plans because of climbing employer contribution rates. A decade ago, schools paid about 8 percent of an employee’s wages to CalSTRS. Now, the contribution rate is 14.4 percent and rising to 19 percent.
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