Opinion No. (2006)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General GREGORY L. GONOT Deputy Attorney General. THE CALIFORNIA STATE TEACHERS' RETIREMENT SYSTEM has requested an opinion on the following question: Would the Legislature's increase of the employers' contribution rate paid by school districts to the California State Teachers' Retirement System for its Defined Benefit Program cause an increase in the obligation of the state to fund public education under the terms of section 8 of article XVI of the Constitution? CONCLUSION The Legislature's increase of the employers' contribution rate paid by school districts to the California State Teachers' Retirement System for its Defined Benefit Program, by itself, would not cause an increase in the obligation of the state to fund public education under the terms of section 8 of article XVI of the Constitution. ANALYSIS The question presented for resolution concerns the relationship, if any, between two different financial obligations to fund public education in California. The first involves the specific obligation of school districts to make contributions to the California State Teachers' Retirement System ("CalSTRS") for its Defined Benefit Program. The other…