Over 300 retired educators of Sacramento and the Central Valley receive eye-popping pension payouts of $100,000 or more
Over 300 retired educators of Sacramento & the Central Valley receive eye-popping pension payouts of $100,000 or more
Bad Education: Transparent California Releases 2014 CalSTRS Pension Data
TUSTIN — Today, TransparentCalifornia.com released 2014 pension records for 256,305 CalSTRS pensioners, received through a series of public records request.
The data reveals that at just the 10 biggest school districts in Sacramento & the Central Valley 308 CalSTRS pensioners took home pension payouts of $100,000 or more in 2014. The average pension for those who worked 30 years or more at these districts was $63,682 for the year. Of those who retired in 2000 and later, the figure was $70,084. (These payouts do not include the value of generous health benefits.)
Transparent California is California’s largest and most comprehensive database of public sector compensation and is run by the California Policy Center and Nevada Policy Research Institute.
Statewide, 8,888 CalSTRS retirees received pension payouts of $100,000 or more in 2014. The average pension for those who worked 30 years or more was $66,641 for the year. Of those who retired in 2000 and later, the figure was $74,910.
To view the data click here. To explore the data by specific school district click here.
“Widespread six-figure pension payouts for retired educators challenge the popular conception of the poor retired teacher struggling to get by on a fixed pension,” said Mark Bucher, president of the California Policy Center. “The release of this data will give policymakers, journalists and Californians-at-large better context of hot-button issues surrounding teacher contracts and compensation.”
The three biggest CalSTRS pension recipients in Sacramento & the Central Valley in 2014 were:
- Jack McLaughlin, Stockton Unified School District, who received $266,899
- James Enochs, Modesto City Elementary, who received $261,510
- Larry Reider, Kern County Office of Education, who received $253,950
The top three biggest CalSTRS pension recipients statewide in 2014 were:
- William Habermehl, Orange County Office of Education, who received $347,856
- Richard Bray, Tustin Unified School District, who received $307,135
- Edward Hernandez Jr., Rancho Santiago Community College District, who received $304,652
Based on the ten biggest school districts in each region, the average pensions of those who worked 30 years or more by other California region were:
- Bay Area: $65,413
- Central Coast: $60,532
- Greater Los Angeles: $69,002
- Greater San Diego: $65,605
Ten biggest school districts by total payroll in Sacramento & the Central Valley
| Name | County | Avg. Full-Career Pension | |
| Sacramento & Central Valley = Butte, Colusa, Glenn, El Dorado, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Placer, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Shasta, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Yuba, and Yolo | |||
| Fresno Unified | Fresno | $60,467 | |
| Elk Grove Unified | Sacramento | $66,837 | |
| San Juan Unified | Sacramento | $63,385 | |
| Sacramento City Unified | Sacramento | $63,551 | |
| Clovis Unified | Fresno | $63,179 | |
| Kern Union High | Kern | $70,821 | |
| Stockton Unified | San Joaquin | $63,404 | |
| Bakersfield City Elementary | Kern | $64,679 | |
| Lodi Unified | San Joaquin | $63,999 | |
| Folsom-Cordova Unified | Sacramento | $64,729 | |
Transparent California is a project of two nonpartisan, free-market think tanks, the California Policy Center and Nevada Policy Research Institute. Learn more at TransparentCalifornia.com.
