Grassroots Radio Colorado, Walker Stapleton, Feb. 27, 2013

Station: KLZ, 560 AM

Show:  Grassroots Radio Colorado

Guests: Stapleton, Walker

Link: http://grrc.podomatic.com/profile?p=1

Date: Feb. 21, 2013

AUDIO: Listen here

Topics: PERA, Michael Johnston, Jerry Brown, California, School Boards, Colorado, Retirement, School budgets

Walker Stapleton: The point I want to make to your listeners is that it is impossible to have efficient or effective school finance reform in Colorado, if you neglect the pressures our public-pension system places on school budgets all across our state.  In fact, it is the single most area of pressure on school budgets in our state. And so it is inexplicable to me how you can have a piece of legislation which purports to be for school-finance reform and not include reform of our pension system in that piece of legislation. And what that ends up doing is being a bait-and-switch with taxpayers. What you end up saying to them is, we need more money to fix the education system here in Colorado, fork over more in tax revenue. And then all that an individual thinks he or she is contributing to make schools better actually gets diverted to back-filling liabilities or unfunded obligations in an unsustainable retirement system that we’ve created in the state of Colorado.