Photo courtesy Jim EnochsJim Enochs, 75, is the top-paid CalSTRS pensioner and advocates system reform.
Jim Enochs of Ceres, Stanislaus County, has the biggest pension in the entire California State Teachers' Retirement System – a hefty $285,460.
But he says he’s just as worried as anyone that the soaring cost of public employee pensions is driving the Golden State into a permanent financial hole.
Meanwhile, if you think he’s one of those guys who worked the system to spike his benefits and then bailed out at the first opportunity – please, he asks, think again.
“I am not the least bit embarrassed by my retirement,” he said in a recent interview.
But, he added: “I do understand, when the taxpayers say they’re mad” about what experts have taken to calling California’s pension bomb. “It ticks me off, too,” he said.
Enochs, 75, spent a lifetime in Modesto schools, first as a government teacher and then, for 21 years, as superintendent of schools.
His innovative “The Fourth R: Responsibility” educational program won national acclaim and inspired the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Enochs’ hometown paper, the Modesto Bee, wrote in an assessment of his career. Modesto’s newest high school was named in Enochs' honor.
But none of that cut Enochs any slack when reform groups began zeroing in on the issue of the state’s out-of-control pension obligations. The Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility created a “$100,000 Pension Club” website, with Enochs’ name at the top of the CALSTRS list. The San Diego Union-Tribune put his name in a story about the pension crisis.
As a result, “I got a bull's-eye on my butt,” Enochs said. “I got a phone call or two and a letter or two saying I was one of the hogs at the public trough.
“I thought it was a little different when you work until you’re 72 after 50 years of service.”
Enochs grew up in Modesto. He went to San Jose State University, worked for a time in nearby Patterson and then came home to teach school. He preferred teaching but said he applied for the superintendent’s job when a predecessor whom he described as having “no personal skills and no common sense at all” got fired by the school board.
“I was afraid they’d go out and get another guy like him, so I took the job,” he said.
Enochs said he worked hard and tried to save the district money when he could. For his first two years as superintendent, he also held down his old job as deputy superintendent, saving the district perhaps $300,000.
A decade later, when a deputy left, Enochs said he again worked two jobs for a couple of years, again at substantial savings to the district. The district also saved money because he didn’t leave after a few years.
Many educators “keep one foot in the stirrup and move on one step ahead of any disaster they have created,” as he put it.
“I was superintendent for 21 years, and that’s somewhat significant when you understand the average tenure in districts of over 25,000 (students) is three-and-a-half years,” he said.
“I used to keep track of this: While I was superintendent, Sacramento had five, Fresno had six and Stockton had five.”
Because newly-hired educators always get a big raise, “I saved my district just by hanging in there,” he said. “When I retired, the guy who replaced me … His base salary was higher than mine by $15,000.”
Since retiring, Enoch has reflected on California’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit and other sobering financial problems.
“Pensions obviously need to be reformed,” he said. “But it’s going to be a tough reform, because the unions, the teachers unions, the prison guards and the cops all are very powerful …
“I just don’t know how much leeway those guys (lawmakers) have in Sacramento. Democrats won’t cut programs, and Republicans won’t raise taxes.”
Meanwhile, Enochs himself is grappling with health problems. Two years after he retired, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.
“My retirement will probably be over in a year or two,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Nobody escapes this stuff.
“I m not complaining. … I have a library with 15,000 books in it. I like to read, and I listen to people who come over and complain about the schools.
“Retirement’s been great.”
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