The Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Kentucky (TRS) will receive full funding in the 2024-26 biennial budget approved recently by the General Assembly. This includes more than $1.75 billion over the two years to meet the actuarially required contribution for the Retirement Annuity Trust, which is separate from education appropriations of about $925 million that come to TRS in salary contributions.

The two years of the budget will be the ninth and 10th straight years of full or nearly full annuity funding.

The budget also includes $161 million for the state’s statutory contribution for both years for under-65 group health insurance under the 2010 Shared Responsibility law.

The legislature also approved $80 million in one-time appropriations for TRS from the state’s budget reserve fund. The funding, $40 million in each year of the biennium, is to be invested and applied to unfunded actuarially accrued liability.

“The appreciation for this decade of funding cannot be overstated,” Executive Secretary Gary Harbin said. “The continued full funding in these appropriations is integral in ensuring Kentucky’s public school teachers receive the dignified retirement they earned during their careers. Not only did every version of the budget again include full funding for retiree annuities and health insurance, the additional $80 million advances TRS further on the path toward achieving full actuarial funding.”

(Posted April 2024)