At long last, a written response to our questions about the Teachers Retirement System! If you recall, there were two questions: (1) Since teachers don’t begin receiving interest on their contributions to retirement until the end of their contract year, who holds their monthly deductions until that time? This implies "who is earning interest on MY money?" (2) How is it that this retirement program escapes the federal laws regarding employees "vestment" of employers contributions to a retirement plan over a set period of years?

In response to the first question, Mr. Gilbert, Executive Director of the TRS, replied in a telephone conversation week before last, that the local school systems send our retirement contributions to the state on a monthly basis. In his letter he states "These employee contributions are invested along with the employer contributions along with the investment earnings of the System. Individual member accounts are credited with their employee contributions and each June 30, interest is credited to the account at 4.5% based upon the preceding June 30 balance." (Italics mine) Even though our contributions may be earning interest for the fund as a whole, it seems abundantly clear to me that, individually, we receive no benefit. I should make some additional clarifications here, again based on the telephone call. Mr. Gilbert indicated that, actually, this "4.5% interest" is only a bookkeeping figure for those employees who withdraw their funds prior to retirement. He further states in his letter, "It is true that TRS earns far more than the 4.5% credited to accounts, but this money goes towards the funding of the monthly benefits paid by the System."

Clearly, our State General Assembly has tailored this program to severely penalize those who must withdraw their funds prior to retirement. Incidentally, the Assembly has been unbending in reducing the 30 years service required to reach full benefits! Read on…

The answer to our second question, about the vestment of our employers' contributions, (currently 11.29%) seems to be based in semantics. Mr. Gilbert feels that we have a fully vested interest in these funds after 10 years of credible service. His definition of "vesting" is that the employee will be entitled to a monthly benefit upon retirement. In other words, a teacher who chooses to, or must, withdraw their funds prior to retirement, loses all interest in their employers' contributions! We have NO opportunity to transfer funds deposited for our benefit to any other plan upon changing fields of employment. Gilbert goes on to state that government retirement plans were exempted from the much more stringent requirements made on private businesses by the federal ERISA Act. How nice! Exactly the same type of information I discovered three years ago, when trying to get my employer to pay for my Hepatitis-B immunizations. Teachers are "exempt" from the protections of OSHA requirements too! I’d think you local business owners would be outraged for all you have to go through compared to your government!

This information makes me wonder what percent of the long term (career?) teachers are vigorously and happily continuing their careers versus the percent who are "hanging in there" because they can’t afford to quit. I surely hope for our kids’ sakes that it’s the former!

I think Mr. Gilbert wrapped it up nicely when he said, "If TRS were to refund employer contributions in addition to employee contributions and interest it would be a significant cost to the System." No kidding! But isn’t it the right thing to do? Isn’t that what YOUR company has to do? Few people these days stick with one employer for 30 years anymore, and surely new teachers considering a career in Georgia are smart enough to recognize that fact. It’s tough getting enough qualified teachers now, with our state paying below the national average salary. It might be even tougher if those considering positions here were aware of how their retirement benefits were going to be handled.

I’ve got to be fair here and give credit to Mr. Gilbert. He answered all the questions we asked, both on the phone and via letter. His responsibility, as I understand it, is to administer the policies and laws of the General Assembly with regard to the Teachers Retirement System. He has no responsibility for creating these policies. It is with the Assembly that we must target our efforts if we are to see any positive changes in the retirement system for teachers. Effecting any change is doubly difficult here, due to the fact that Georgia is one of the few remaining states that, by law, forbids teachers from collectively bargaining. But we can lobby, and we can campaign for candidates for the General Assembly that see things our way.