HARRISBURG, PA – Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) Executive Director Glen Grell issued the following statement today.
“On behalf of PSERS administration, I want to thank the General Assembly and Governor Wolf for the passage and signing of the 2021-22 budget. This bipartisan act continues policymakers’ ongoing commitment to the roughly 500,000 Pennsylvanians who depend on PSERS retirement benefits.”
This is the sixth consecutive year, Representatives, Senators and the Governor fully funded PSERS’ actuarially determined contribution (ADC) as part of the state budget. The ADC represents the Commonwealth’s share of pension payments to school employers. As in prior years, nearly three quarters of this year’s ADC ($2.7 billion) will be used to pay down the System’s existing pension debt, which in turn helps improve the System’s long-term funded status.
“The continued funding from the Commonwealth is putting PSERS back on solid financial footing and we appreciate their commitment to full funding,” Grell continued.
About the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System
PSERS, founded in 1917, began operations in 1919 to oversee a statewide defined benefit pension plan for public school employees. PSERS' role expanded upon the passage of Act 5 of 2017 to include oversight of two new hybrid options consisting of defined benefit and defined contribution (DC) components and a stand-alone DC plan. As of March 31, 2021, PSERS had net assets of $65.9 billion and a membership of about 256,000 active, 240,000 retired school employees and 26,000 vested inactive members.