While we’ve won major improvements in recent years, Minnesota’s educator pension system remains one of the most inflexible in the nation. Pensions are not the educator recruitment and retention tool they were meant to be.

One of our members’ top priorities is reforming their pension plans. With some of the highest educator contribution levels to their own pensions compared to other states, direct state investment is needed to fix the inequities the state created.

Together, we can elect leaders who will:
• Create an unreduced career rule allowing teachers to retire at age 60 and 30 years of service without any penalties.
• Reduce early retirement penalties and increase flexibility so educators can choose when they’re ready to retire without losing a significant amount of their pension benefit.
• Support improving the retirement plans for school support staff and higher education faculty, including better pensions and increasing the Supplemental Retirement Plan statutory maximum.