CTPF Executive Director
Charles A. Burbridge Calls for
Full Pension Funding

 

CHICAGO - June 17, 2015 - As the due date for the Chicago Board of Education's pension payment to the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund approaches, Charles A. Burbridge, CTPF Executive Director, is calling for full payment to the Fund.

 

 "We recognize that there are tough choices to be made," said Burbridge. "These choices are consequences of the education funding policies of the past 20 years and we must collectively set a new course if we are to fully fund the education our children deserve. Our members are expecting the full payment required by statute and we have no authority to negotiate payments with CPS. "

 

A 10-year pension holiday from 1996-2005, combined with reduced payments from 2011-2013, cost CTPF more than $3.2 billion in revenue. As a result, the Board of Education has to make a payment of $634 million to the Fund before June 30.

 

"Beginning July 1, 2015, the Fund will celebrate its 120th anniversary. If pension obligations are to be fulfilled for another 120 years, we must make changes," said Burbridge. "We must have an adequate, stable and guaranteed source of employer contributions to pair with the existing reliable stream of employee contributions and investment earnings."

 

Ensuring the long-term viability of employee pensions is not only critical to Chicago's education system, it is also important to the city and state economy. Roughly 85 percent of CTPF retirees continue to live in Illinois with about 50 percent of those residents in Chicago. In 2014, the Fund paid out $1.2 billion in pension benefit payments to residents across the state generating roughly $1.7 billion in economic impact for Illinois.  

 

"Our members have dedicated their lives to the children of Chicago and to building a strong city," said Burbridge. "Our job is to educate and inform our members and other stakeholders, invest their assets, and administer their earned benefits. Lawmakers and elected officials must honor the promises made by fully funding CTPF pensions. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past with another pension holiday."

 

ABOUT CTPF

Established by the Illinois state legislature in 1895, the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund manages members' assets and administers benefits. The $10.9 billion pension fund serves approximately 63,000 active and retired educators, and provides pension and health insurance benefits to more than 27,700 beneficiaries.