According to a nonpartisan foundation that studies public pension systems, Texas teachers have the worst retirement choices in the nation, except for Louisiana.
A 13th monthly pension check for teacher retirees was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott last year as a treat to the state’s retired teachers. Some retired teachers believe the cheque was good but not enough in light of historically high inflation. Texas retired teachers haven’t had a cost-of-living increase in their monthly salaries since 2004.
Equable conducted a nationwide assessment of teacher pension schemes, including those in every state plus the District of Columbia. Each state’s strategy was examined to see how effectively it served new teachers, those with 10 to 20 years of experience, and those who had worked in the classroom their whole careers. States such as South Carolina, Tennessee, and Oregon occupied the top three spots.
With no cost-of-living adjustment, Texas’ plan offers a lower benefit value for instructors with fewer than 20 years of experience.
According to Harris County Republican State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, this year’s and last year’s 13th checks permitted by the Legislature are not properly accounted for in the report. Annuitants get 12 regular checks each year, but they are just cost-of-living adjustments for the year they were issued. Regardless, they are in effect for the year in which they were issued.
“The study ignores” benefit boosts worth an average of 5.55 percent allowed by the Legislature during the past three years.
To meet their promises to pensioners, conventional pensions—both those funded by the state and those funded by private companies—have been unable to achieve high enough rates of return. An average of 80% of the promised benefits are guaranteed by money in the pension plans themselves throughout the country. There is an additional 20%, known as the unfunded liabilities, which in the United States amounts to around $1 trillion.
At 76%, Texas’s Teacher Retirement System (TRS), the state’s biggest pension plan, is funded at a level that is somewhat below the national median. Despite the fact that TRS and other funds grew rapidly last year due to the stock market and other investments, this year’s investment returns are expected to be significantly less bright as the financial markets prepare for a storm. According to the findings of the research, prospective teachers take into account pension benefits when deciding where to work or whether or not to engage in education at all.
This year, Gov. Greg Abbott formed a task committee of specialists, school administrators, and teachers to examine the teacher shortage in Texas and provide recommendations on how to address it. Several experts outside the task team have argued that improved compensation and benefits are all that is needed to solve the problem.
The following article was originally published by: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/Texas-and-Louisiana-rank-lowest-in-teacher-17274223.php
