Total Employer Contributions to the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System Since 1970

from Bob Lyons, TRS Trustee

The total entails mostly funds appropriated by the General Assembly and 0.58 percent of member salary contributed by school districts according to state law. The vast majority of the total employer contribution is state funds.

Fiscal Year              Actuarial Requirement                           State Statute                          Actual Payment

1970                        $      92,004,000                                      $     92,004,000                       $     56,300,000

1971                        $    160,099,260                                      $   160,099,260                       $     60,100,000

1972                        $    171,505,159                                      $   171,505,159                       $     58,600,000

1973                        $    153,340,577                                      $   153,340,577                       $     93,716,074

1974                        $    158,476,229                                      $   158,476,229                       $   100,018,071

1975                        $    169,604,384                                      $   169,604,384                       $   127,361,884

1976                        $    186,913,193                                      $   186,913,193                       $   134,242,564

1977                        $    202,000,000                                      $   201,985,767                       $   153,649,291

1978                        $    207,079,620                                      $   207,079,620                       $   172,792,022

1979                        $    240,626,076                                      $   240,626,076                       $   187,813,574

1980                        $    254,000,000                                      $   254,000,000                       $   221,000,000

1981                        $    259,388,519                                      $   259,388,519                       $   240,823,822

1982                        $    271,000,000                                      $   271,000,000                       $   162,905,821

1983                        $    367,383,000                                      $   367,383,000                       $   161,000,000

1984                        $    406,000,000                                      $   406,000,000                       $   197,806,145

1985                        $    437,000,000                                      $   437,000,000                       $   224,575,000

1986                        $    439,000,000                                      $   458,352,000                       $   248,718,000

1987                        $    440,000,000                                      $   464,589,000                       $   266,907,000

1988                        $    506,000,000                                      $   469,955,000                       $   230,606,000

1989                        $    559,000,000                                      $   540,876,000                       $   237,000,000


1990                        $    617,000,000                                      $   282,969,000                       $   269,000,000

1991                        $    686,000,000                                      $   329,331,000                       $   270,000,000

1992                        $    771,000,000                                      $   400,982,000                       $   247,189,000

1993                        $    833,000,000                                      $   495,014,000                       $   281,904,000

1994                        $    918,000,000                                      $   572,627,000                       $   278,109,000

1995                        $1,156,000,000                                       $   663,792,000                       $   279,258,000

1996                        $1,350,997,000                                       $   341,276,000                       $   341,269,000

1997                        $    972,842,000                                      $   395,269,000                       $   395,348,000

1998                        $    983,312,000                                      $   478,439,000                       $   477,685,000

1999                        $    932,909,000                                      $   602,242,600                       $   603,603,000

2000                        $1,003,612,000                                       $   686,384,000                       $   688,586,000

2001                        $1,102,441,000                                       $   775,732,000                       $   778,342,000

2002                        $1,163,262,000                                       $   872,283,000                       $   861,889,000

2003                        $1,427,519,000                                       $   963,858,000                       $   970,845,000

2004                        $1,716,977,000                                       $1,100,264,000                       $1,103,337,000

2005                        $1,683,212,000                                       $    986,269,000                      $    987,362,000

2006                        $1,679,524,000                                       $    601,554,700                      $    601,472,000

2007                        $2,052,396,000                                       $    822,890,500                      $    816,670,000

2008                        $1,949,463,000                                       $1,135, 127,000                      $1,169,773,000

2009                        $2,109,480,000                                       $1,556,737,000                       $1,601,605,000

2010                        $2,481,914,000                                       $2,217,053,000                       $2,252,149,604


2011                        $2,743,221,000                                       $2,293,321,000                       $2,323,668,000

2012                        $3,429,945,000                                       $2,405,172,175                       $2,406,472,000

2013                        $3,757,148,000                                       $2,702,277,829                       $2,703,478,000

"When talking to a legislator, ask him or her: If the State of Illinois shorted the teachers' pension fund approximately $15 billion dollars since 1970, how does that justify reducing teachers' benefits in order to pay the fund what you owe us? Do you think that is fair? Do you think that is legal?" --Bob Lyons

A Letter from Dave Urbanek, TRS Director of Communications:

Since the founding of TRS in 1939, members have paid 100 percent of the contribution estimated by actuaries to "fully fund" the System each year. The state's contribution in each year has never reached 100 percent of the amount required by actuaries to "fully fund" TRS.

There are several ways to compare the contributions from members and from the state. In terms of meeting the "actuarial requirement," the state's share has ranged widely between 24 percent of what's needed and 92 percent of what's needed in any one year. If you compare the contributions of the two groups in terms of "total revenue" into TRS, over the last 20 years the state has contributed 24 percent and members have contributed 20 percent. If you look at it the annual cost of pensions, in 2013 the cost of TRS pensions equaled 17.3 percent of the total annual payroll of all active TRS members in Illinois. Of that 17.3 percent, members paid 9.4 percent and the state paid 6.33 percent. The rest was paid by local school districts and the federal government.

Between 1970 and 2013, because it has not fully funded TRS, the state has redirected [or STOLEN approximately $15 billion] from the System for other budget priorities... We can only estimate roughly what the System's funded status would be if the state had paid TRS everything that the actuaries required since 1970... With investment income added in, it is quite probable that if that $15 billion had been delivered to TRS that the System would right now be fully funded.

TRS currently has an unfunded liability of $53 billion. We only have 42 percent of the money on hand right now to meet accumulated obligations over the next 30 years.

Dave Urbanek, TRS Director of Communications 

Update from Bob Lyons (includes 2014 for a revised unpaid total)

Looking at the differences between what was received and what should have been paid is especially significant by decades:

FY 1970-1979

Actuarial Requirement -- $1,741,648,000 Actual Payment -- $1,144,593,000 Not Paid and Owed -- $597,055,000

FY 1980-1989

Actuarial Requirement -- $3,938,171,000 Actual Payment -- $2,191,340,000 Not Paid and Owed -- $1,746,831,000

FY 1990-1999

Actuarial Requirement -- $9,221,060,000 Actual Payment -- $6,779,300,268 Not Paid and Owed -- $2,441,760,000

FY 2000-2009

Actuarial Requirement -- $15,887,886,000 Actual Payment -$9,579,881,000 Not Paid and Owed -- $6,308,005,000

FY 2010-2014

Actuarial Requirement -- $16,792,765,000 Actual Payment -- $13,124,345,000 Not Paid and Owed -- $3,668,420,000

Not Paid to the Teachers’ Retirement System by the State of Illinois: $14,762,071,000.

[...Sorry for the conflicting data in this post. Bob Lyons corrected the TRS calculations twice.]