Publications

  • Eating Their Young

    In terms of retirement benefits, now is the worst time in at least three decades to become a teacher. After years of expansion, a number of states enacted legislation cutting benefits for workers in response to financial pressures. The cuts fall hardest on new and future teachers, particularly for teachers hired after the recession who do not plan to teach in the same state for 30 or more years.

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  • Few Reach the Peaks: How to Fix Colorado’s Teacher Pensions

    Eighty-five percent of Colorado teachers will leave public employment with insufficient retirement savings and no Social Security benefit for their work.
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  • Uncovered: Social Security, Retirement Uncertainty, and 1 Million Teachers

    Teachers without Social Security coverage face substantial uncertainty and must rely more heavily on their employer retirement plans (state pensions), which provide little or no savings for many teachers.
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  • Finding Common Ground In Pension Reform: Lessons from Washington State

    Policy changes in Washington State suggest teacher pensions can be reformed in a way that is attractive to both teachers and states.
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  • Friends without Benefits

    Half of all Americans who teach in public schools won’t qualify for even a minimal pension benefit, and less than one in five will remain long enough to earn a normal retirement benefit. As a result, while the system works for a few, it creates an enormous problem affecting many—especially given the sheer size of the teaching workforce.
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