Pension costs, excluding Social Security and retiree health insurance, have grown from $520 per student in 2004 to $1,220 today—or from roughly 5 percent to 10 percent of current expenditures per student. To learn more about the current state of teacher pension benefits, read “Pensions Under Pressure” from our Spring 2018 issue, or check out “Why Most Teachers Get a Bad Deal on Pensions” to see how state plans create more losers than winners—and leave many teachers with nothing at all.
—Education Next