Legislation will be introduced today that could pave the way for a possible merger between Denver Public Schools’ stand- alone retirement system and the larger statewide pension program.
House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, will sponsor the bill, which he says has wide bipartisan support.
DPS has been the only district in the state with its own pension system. Teachers in Colorado’s other 177 districts pay into the state’s Public Employees’ Retirement Association, or PERA.
Now, DPS teachers who leave the district must leave behind their pensions. And teachers outside DPS must abandon their PERA pensions for jobs in Denver.
A merger, which has been unsuccessfully attempted twice before, must be approved by the PERA board and the DPS retirement system board and school board.
“Teachers in Colorado will be better off in the end and will be able to move around,” Romanoff said. “This is a major step forward. It’s good news for teachers.”
Jeremy P. Meyer, The Denver Post
