California Controller Sees Pension Spiking in School Districts

Executives in school districts getting big raises before retiring

California's teacher retirement system does not take adequate measures to prevent pension "spiking," missing opportunities to reduce such abuses by insufficiently auditing benefits, the state controller said Wednesday.

Auditors in Controller John Chiang's office spotted raises of up to 26% for retiring executives in the San Francisco and San Diego school districts without enough documentation to justify the end-of-career boosts.