Just Like Wisconsin, California Benefits Are Unsustainable

But I doubt our state will do anything about it until it's too late:

Unlike Wisconsin, California stands virtually no chance of stripping public school teachers and other unionized employees of their collective contract-negotiating rights. But like Wisconsin, the economic downturn has put increasing pressure on state workers to accept deep concessions in their health and retirement benefits, experts say.

California is in the middle of a perfect storm – health insurance costs are rising, retirees are living longer, and the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit is looming – and this means cash-strapped school districts will be increasingly insisting their employees bear more of the cost of their benefits, observers predict.

School districts in California last year picked up an average of 86 percent of the costs of their teachers' benefits, according to 2009-10 data from the state Department of Education. In Orange County, the ratio was even higher – taxpayers paid 93 percent of the total cost.

"The cost of benefits has been skyrocketing out of control, and many times teachers just have no idea – they don't realize how much per employee a school district and taxpayers are spending on their benefits," said Orange County schools Superintendent Bill Habermehl. "Our unions have been pretty understanding, but it's going to get tougher as time goes on. It's going to be so important that we have openness and good dialogue."

Yeah, good luck with that. The public employee unions in California OWN the Democrats. With a Dem governor and Dem legislature the odds of reforming this problem are approximately zero.