Tens of thousands of Pennsylvania public school employees could soon find themselves paying higher pension contributions under a plan approved this week by the embattled PSERS board. 

The board voted nearly unanimously this week to increase contribution rates after moving to lower them in December — a move that coincided with a maelstrom of scandal still facing the $64 billion fund.

There is a catch. Under current law, the board can't do this without state law changing first. If the legislature does not change the law and the higher employee contributions don't take effect, taxpayers will be footing the bill. The system will not say how much money is at stake, per the Associated Press.

THE CONTEXT: The Public School Employees’ Retirement System fund, long criticized for its largesse and management practices, launched an internal investigation soon after realizing the board's December vote to lower employee contributions was based on bad data. 

Soon after that investigation was launched, The Inquirer reported the FBI was pursuing its own probe and issuing subpoenas. (All of this, and much more, is chronicled in a handy explainer here.)

This week, the focus of that FBI investigation became clearer, with sources linking it to $13.5 million in real estate purchases near PSERS' Harrisburg headquarters. But it's unclear if this is the full extent of the federal inquiry's scope, as The Inquirer notes.

Yesterday, the fund named a new overseer as its current chief investment officer, the "highest paid person in Pennsylvania’s government," responds to the probes. 

Also noteworthy: Former State Treasurer and PSERS critic Joe Torsella is officially back on the pension fund's board after a four-month layover, the Capital-Star reports.

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