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Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS)
Agency overview
Formed	1939
Headquarters	Springfield, IL
Agency executives	Stan Rupnik, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer; Matthew Hunt, President, Board of Trustees;
Website	www.trsil.org

The Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois is an American state government agency dealing with pensions and other financial benefits for teachers and other workers in education in Illinois.

Purpose

The Illinois General Assembly created the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS or the System) in 1939 for the purpose of providing retirement annuities, and disability and survivor benefits for educators employed in public schools outside the city of Chicago. The System's enabling legislation is in the Illinois Pension Code at 40 ILCS 5/16-101^[3]

Membership

TRS members fall into the following categories: active, inactive, annuitant, and beneficiary. Active members are full-time, part-time, and substitute Illinois public school personnel employed outside the city of Chicago in positions requiring licensure by the Illinois State Board of Education. Persons employed in certain state agencies and statewide or national organizations related to education are also active TRS members. As of June 30, 2021, there were 159,027 active members.

Inactive members are no longer contributing to the System but have service credit that will entitle them to draw a benefit or refund when statutory eligibility requirements are met. As of June 30, 2021, there were 145,769 inactive members.

Annuitants are persons receiving a retirement annuity or disability retirement annuity. Beneficiaries are persons receiving a survivor benefit or reversionary annuity. As of June 30, 2021, there were 127,518 annuitants and beneficiaries.^[4]

Benefits

Subject to various qualification requirements, members and annuitants of TRS may be eligible for a range of benefits including:

retirement annuity
death benefits
disability benefits
health insurance (post-retirement)^[5]

Funding

TRS has several sources of funding:

member contributions,
investment income,
employer contributions, and
appropriations from Illinois state government.^[5]

Creation of Tier II

Public Act 96–0889, which was signed into law in the spring of 2010, adds a new section to the Pension Code that applies different benefits to anyone who first contributes to TRS on or after January 1, 2011, and does not have previous service credit with a pension system that has reciprocal rights with TRS. These members are referred to as “Tier II” members.

Changes from the “Tier I” pension law include raising the minimum eligibility to draw a retirement benefit to age 67 with 10 years of service, initiating a cap on the salaries used to calculate retirement benefits, and limiting cost-of-living annuity adjustments to the lesser of 3 percent or half of the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index, not compounded. The retirement formula is unchanged. The new pension law does not apply to anyone who has TRS service prior to January 1, 2011. These members remain participants of Tier I.^[6]^[7]

References

^ "Acting Executive Contacts". Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
^ "TRS Board Members". Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
^ "TRS Purpose". Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
^ "TRS Membership". Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
^ ^a ^b Tier I TRS Member Guide (Electronic, Sept. 2013 ed.). Online: Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. September 2013. p. 13. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
^ Evolution of the TRS Benefit Structure (April 2014 ed.). Online: Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. April 2014. p. 15. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
^ "Tier II Member Guide". Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois. TRS. Retrieved 8 August 2018.