How Much Are State Pension Payments Worth to Illinois School Districts?

Every school district in Illinois except for the Chicago Public Schools has its teacher pension payments made by the state as a consolidated payment to the Teachers Retirement System. Because of this, it is difficult to determine how much money these pension payments are worth to individual districts. CTBA has created per-district estimates for both normal cost (the payment that covers benefits being earned by current employees) and legacy cost (the debt service payment to make up for previous years' underfunding). These estimates show that state TRS payments are worth an average of $1,880 per student in the Chicago suburbs, and $1,420 per student in downstate school districts.