Blog: State Pension Plans

How will COVID-19 affect teacher pension plans?

The Washington Post cites TeacherPensions.org work to note that just one-in-five teachers gets a full pension.

Get your teacher pension questions answered.

Teacher pension systems are not structured to effectively serve educators whose spouse is an active duty military service member. And while teaching may be a good career option for military spouses in theory, the way that states have set up their pension plans means these families will face challenges saving for retirement.

Florida is gambling away a secure retirement for teachers.

Here's a list of the most popular pension stories from 2019.

In Maryland, teacher pension spending increases inequities between high and low poverty school districts. The problem is only getting worse as the state's pension debt costs continues to grow. In 2018, Maryland spent approximately twice as much per pupil on teacher pension debt than it received in federal Title I funding. The state’s pension spending blunts the effect of federal education spending designed to provide greater support to high-poverty school districts. If Maryland were to improve the financial health of its teacher pension system, students attending high-poverty districts would receive greater per pupil funding overall even if the state didn’t increase the equity of its own school funding system.

An analysis of Illinois teacher salary data reveals that disparities in pay increase funding inequities most acutely in rural and urban districts.

California's investments in education--pension payments included--should be steered by principles of fairness and equity.

Senator Warren should extend Social Security coverage to the 5 million public-sector workers who currently lack it.