As the Pension Benefits Task Force debated how to solve Vermont's $4.5B pension deficit, we heard repeated claims that public employee benefits (which are 2-3 times as generous as the private sector) were necessary to make teachers and state employees competitive because their salaries are lower. While this has been a long-standing claim, we decided to dig into data and what we found was surprising.

“As a former Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Commissioner of Human Resources, I was surprised by what we found in this report. I think everyone needs to read this report because there were a number of assumptions that were carried through the years that were just plain wrong.” - Pat McDonald (President, Campaign for Vermont)