By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

LANSING, Mich. – The Day of Reckoning has arrived for Michigan’s financially mismanaged public schools, but the state’s teacher unions are using the courts to keep it at bay.

On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a new law that requires Michigan educators to either make larger contributions to the state’s overstretched teacher pension program, accept reduced pensions upon retirement, or switch to a defined contribution plan, reports the Detroit News.

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The move is necessary because the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System currently has a $45 billion unfunded liability. The new law is projected to reduce the gap by a third, reports the Detroit Free Press.

The Michigan Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers Michigan scurried to court hours after the law was signed and won a court injunction that temporarily blocks it from taking effect, reports the News.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina agreed with the unions that 52 days – the span between when the law was passed and the deadline for teachers to reach a decision – was not enough time for educators to make such a “major, life altering” choice regarding their pension plan, especially at the start of a new school year, the News reports.

Aquilina also signed an order that allows teachers to void their pension decisions should the new law be found unconstitutional, the News reports.

Here’s where it gets a little confusing.

Not only does the new law reform the state’s teacher pension plan, but it also contains some language that clarifies a 2010 law which requires current school employees to contribute 3 percent of their pay to help fund health care benefits for current school retirees.

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Last month, the 2010 health withholding law was deemed unconstitutional by the Michigan Court of Appeals. The court said the law improperly took teachers’ private property without compensation or due process.

In union-speak, it’s unfair to ask current teachers to help pay for the health benefits of retirees, especially when there is no guarantee those same benefits will available to current teachers when they retire.

Gov. Snyder announced on Tuesday that the state will appeal that decision to the Michigan Supreme Court, and said the new pension law contains clarifying language that strengthens the state’s legal position on the health withholding law, the Free Press writes.

“We are clearly identifying that 3 percent is that person’s money and goes into an account for their future retirement costs,” Snyder said.

In other words, the new law may help the old law pass constitutional muster.

The teacher unions have made it clear that they will contest the new pension law in court, too.

It seems clear that the school employee unions are using the courts to stall these reforms until their friends in the Democratic Party have a chance to reclaim control of the state government and pass different, union-friendly plans. Those plans would almost certainly “reform” the teacher pension fund through higher taxes on Michigan citizens rather than sacrifices from state employees.

Teacher union leaders aren’t fools; they understand basic math which shows their members’ benefit programs are nearly bankrupt.

The legal maneuvering comes down to who’s going to bail these programs out – the people who benefit from them, over the already overburdened taxpayers of the state.