Arnold's pension changes could damage state schools

Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed changes to state funded pensions has drawn a lot of ire from labor groups. Arnold would like to take guaranteed pensions away from firefighters and teachers, to name a few, and shift their retirement into more risky 401k style accounts. It's like Bush's privatization, only on a state level scale.

Today the SF Chronicle informs is that a new and unlikely voice has come out to express his concerns with Arnold's plan:

Gerald Parsky is Bush's leading fund-raiser in California and was appointed to the University of California's board of regents by former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson. Parsky is now the chairman of the board, and told an Assembly committee Wednesday that less-stable pensions could hinder the university system's ability to attract top-notch professors.

Parsky noted that UC faculty are typically paid about 14 percent less than their peers in similar systems, and guaranteed pensions have helped offset that in recruiting.

That could change if pensions are revamped, he said.

"Without a competitive compensation package, we will lose the best available faculty," Parsky said.

He noted that UC professors, researchers and doctors provide the state's "intellectual capital," which creates technological and business breakthroughs that produce jobs.

"California's economic competitiveness will suffer if we cannot retain the nation's best and brightest," he said.

Parsky went on to say that he still has concerns over the present pension system.