Resources

Not only are teacher pension systems costly to states, school districts, and taxpayers, but the carefully guarded retirement benefits are being squeezed and distributed unfairly in ways that are also costly to teachers. Since 2008, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked the health of teacher pension systems in the 50 states and the District of Columbia as part of our annual State Teacher Policy Yearbook. In 2012, they expanded their coverage of pensions to provide a more detailed picture of the pension policy landscape, compile state-level data on funding and technical features, and show how states can simultaneously shore up their pensions financially and improve their ability to recruit and retain highly-effective teachers.