\n\t\t\t\tMany school districts cover teachers\u2019 required pension contribution of 9% of their salary \u2014 putting that burden on taxpayers.
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A growing number of school districts pay all or part of teachers\u2019 pension contributions, raising property taxes for Illinoisans who fund that benefit and may not even realize it.<\/p>\n
By law, public school teachers in Illinois must contribute 9%<\/a> of their salaries toward their pensions with the Illinois Teachers\u2019 Retirement System. But many school districts pay part or all of that as an employee benefit.<\/p>\n In some districts the amount extends up to 10.4% of salary, covering the required employee contribution to the Teacher Health Insurance Security Fund.<\/p>\n This practice, known as a \u201cpension pickup,\u201d further strains local budgets and drives up property taxes.<\/p>\n Pension pickups are a legacy<\/a> of contract negotiations going back decades. Initially a rare perk, they\u2019ve become a standard practice. Today the majority of Illinois school districts cover some or all of their teachers\u2019 pension contributions, and the number has increased from the 2024 school year, according to state data.<\/p>\n Of the 891 districts with data available, 56% cover 9% to 10.4%, meaning those teachers make no contribution from their salary. Only 35% of those districts do not employ this practice, down from 37% last year.<\/p>\n While 30 school districts decreased their pension pickup percentage since last year, 98 increased it. That\u2019s a troubling trend for Illinois residents who pay property taxes, because the bill falls to them.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Illinois faces the worst<\/a> pension debt crisis in the nation. TRS carries $81.9 billion <\/a>of that debt and has only 48.6% of what it will need to keep pension promises made to teachers.<\/p>\n Taxpayers already fund generous<\/a> defined-benefit pensions for Illinois teachers. Employee contributions exist for a reason, and the widespread practice of school districts forcing taxpayers to pick up an extra cost is unfair.<\/p>\n Pension pickups should be phased out, and state lawmakers should pursue whatever constitutional and legislative reforms are needed to end them. Ending teacher pension pickups would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and bring greater transparency to education spending. Until then, Illinois taxpayers will foot the bill for a hidden benefit they never agreed to \u2014 and cannot afford.<\/p>\n Want to know whether your local school district picks up teachers\u2019 pension contributions?<\/p>\n The Illinois State Board of Education publishes the information. Use our lookup tool here to see what your district is paying for the 2025-2026 school year based on the salary range it reported. The maps below show how widespread the practice is in elementary and secondary school districts.<\/p>\n Chicago Public Schools\u2019 pension system is separate from TRS and the district stopped the pickup practice for employees hired after 2017. CPS continues to pick up 7%<\/a> of the pension payment for employees hired before then. That will cost Chicago taxpayers nearly $134 million<\/a> in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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