Denver Public Schools teachers may now work anywhere in the state and retain their pension benefits under a bill signed into law Thursday by Gov. Bill Ritter.
The new law puts DPS’s pension program into the state’s Public Employees Retirement System, uniting all of the state’s 178 school districts under one retirement-benefit umbrella. Until the law was signed, DPS, with 14,500 eligible employees, was the only school system in Colorado to fund its own pensions. PERA has more than 400,000 members.
Until this law, DPS teachers who moved to jobs elsewhere in the state would forfeit their pensions, as would teachers from across the state who took jobs with DPS.
The law also will give hourly DPS workers access to some PERA benefits, which are more generous than Social Security’s, according to DPS.
The legislature had talked for several years about the merger but twice had been pushed back, primarily by Republican state Sens. Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch and Greg Brophy of Wray. They argued the merger would cause state taxpayers to pay the pensions that should be paid for by Denver taxpayers.
But Democratic Sen. Paula Sandoval of Denver submitted a bill for the merger this year, then pushed it through the Capitol with the help of Sen. Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial.
The bipartisan support came after DPS pensions became fully funded when the district sold $750 million in bonds to eliminate a $400 million shortfall and refinance a $300 million debt at a lower interest rate.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
