Most public school teachers in the United States are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using administrative micro data from four states, combined with national pension funding data, we show these plans have accumulated substantial unfunded liabilities -- effectively debt -- owing to previous plan operations. On average across 49…

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension…

The age of teachers is investigated as one factor demonstrating part of the cumulative effect of teacher turnover and as documentation of the inability of the public school system to retain senior teachers. Age data are analyzed for: (1) all teachers in the Missouri public school system for the 1976-1977 school year; (2) secondary school teachers…