Blog: State Pension Plans

Like Ponzi schemes, teacher pension plans also assume that new members will continue to be added to the system as it grows over time. But what if those assumptions are no longer correct?
Media outlets warned that, if trends continued, teacher retirements could hit “record-breaking heights.” Did the trends hold?
It can be hard to get a handle on teacher retirement costs. Collectively, states and school districts spend about $63 billion a year on employee retirement benefits, but what does that mean for individual school district budgets?
School districts are paying more money for teachers. Meanwhile, teachers are receiving less money as income. How is this possible?
At what age can teachers retire? See the list of teacher retirement ages by state and pension plan tier.
Hear from a range of perspectives on what role the federal government should play in addressing state and municipal pension debt.
California pension plans have not yet flattened the growth of unfunded liabilities. Workers and taxpayers will suffer the consequences.
The share of state education spending going to pension costs nearly doubled from 2001 to 2018.
Nebraska provides a portable, generous retirement plan to its state employees. Its teachers? Not so much.
Illinois is spending more on pension costs than it is on K-12 or higher education.