Illinois Teachers to Receive $6.2B From State to Boost Funded Status

Illinois will contribute $6.2 billion to the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois, the fund at its December board meeting. The contribution will be granted in fiscal 2025, which begins in July 2024, and will be a 2.7% increase over the state’s $6.04 billion contribution this fiscal year.

“A steadfast commitment by Gov. JB Pritzker and the General Assembly to appropriate the full TRS statutory contribution and to contribute $172 million and $115 million in additional contributions to TRS in the past two years has brought more stability to the System’s finances,” said Stan Rupnik, the Teachers’ Retirement System’s executive director and CIO, in a statement.

The pension fund has historically been underfunded, and Illinois ranks last among American states in ratio of unfunded liabilities to state GDP, according to the Equitable Institute’s “State of Pensions 2023” report. Illinois currently has $142.3 billion in pension liabilities, according to the Illinois General Assembly, a total that has tripled in the last 20 years.

According to the press release, the fund’s long-term liability stands at $148.4 billion at the end of fiscal 2023, an increase of 3.4% over the previous fiscal year. In fiscal 2023, TRS paid out $7.9 billion in benefits, and the fund noted it has made consistent, on-time, in-full benefits payments for 84 years.

As of October 30, the Illinois TRS manages $65 billion in assets and provides retirement, insurance and disability benefits for more than 448,000 members.