My colleagues Chad Aldeman and Kirsten Schmitz have written previously about the evolution of teacher retirement plans. They found that even despite recent changes, many state teacher retirement systems are outdated and struggle to provide workers with an adequate benefit that meets the needs of today’s workforce. In fact, teachers have more backloaded retirement benefits than any other group of workers.
Based on our review of teacher retirement plans and a scan of the landscape of retirement programs from public sector employees more broadly, we found 7 states--Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Texas--that offer portable retirement benefits to other state employees that are not available to teachers.
Providing teachers with more portable retirement plans would be beneficial for a number of reasons. For many workers who don't remain in one job for their full career, 401ks and other defined contribution plans often earn greater benefits than a traditional pension. And, these plans are portable and can easily be transferred across state lines. Thus, teachers can change jobs or cross state lines without incurring any losses to their retirement.
Given the benefits to both the employee and the employer, these 7 states should at a minimum extend the portable retirement option to teachers. The systems already exist so the expansion would have no significant administrative expense. Teachers would then have the option of enrolling in a defined contribution or hybrid plan, which would provide them with more flexibility and, in all likelihood, a greater retirement benefit when they leave the profession. States themselves would benefit as well by reducing the number of teachers participating in the state pension system, which are likely already backlogged and strained with large unfunded liabilities.
Fixing all of the problems surrounding state teacher pension funds won’t be easy. But for these states, extending existing retirement options to teachers is a low-cost, high-impact reform that would go a long way toward helping educators earn a better retirement benefit.