Calif. teacher pension shortfall rises to $65B

The unfunded liability for California's teacher pension fund has risen to $64.5 billion, an amount that is $8.5 billion higher than a year ago but not as bad as forecasts had anticipated, fund officials said Tuesday.

The figure represents the amount of additional funding the California State Teachers Retirement System would need to pay the benefits promised by law to current and retired teachers for the next 30 years.

It adds up to about 13 percent of the annual wages of CalSTRS's 430,000 current school employees. The money would need to be appropriated from the state budget by the Legislature or come from other sources, such as school districts, said Ed Derman, deputy chief executive of the fund. Read More