Teachers' Retirement System's unfunded liability jumps $5 billion in FY10

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

The Teachers' Retirement System for Illinois said Monday that its unfunded liability swelled by $4.8 billion in fiscal 2010.

That amount now puts the total unfunded liability for the plan at nearly $40 billion, which represents 52% of total future liabilities.

Teachers' Retirement System trustees said the plan, which provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits, sold assets during the 2008 and 2009 economic recession, which resulted in a 26% loss in investment income.

The plan covers 365,000 teachers, administrators and other public school employees in the state with the exception of Chicago Public Schools personnel.

The trustees said Monday that the plan appears to be making inroads to recovering its losses from the previous two years. Assets are now $31.3 billion, up $2.8 billion from fiscal 2009.

Stan Rupnik, acting executive director, said in statement that fiscal 2010 performance was "good news for our members, especially after the losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 because of the worldwide financial crisis."

The Teachers' Retirement System also said it will ask the state for $2.406 billion in funds for fiscal 2012, $48 million more than it requested for fiscal 2011.