Retired teachers get a break and are due extra check

By Robert Elder

American Statesman Staff

Retired Texas educators are all but assured of getting an extra monthly pension check in January, the first increase in benefits since 2001.

The Teacher Retirement System said Thursday that its pension fund has enough money to provide an extra check to the state's approximately 250,000 retired teachers and other public school employees.

The average monthly pension check last year was about $1,800. The extra check is capped at $2,400.

The teacher system's board of trustees has to approve paying the extra check at its Nov. 9 meeting, but that is considered a formality. The trustees "recognize that our retirees have devoted most of their lives to serving the school children of Texas, and they deserve any increase that the TRS actuarial condition will allow," Houston lawyer Jarvis Hollingsworth, the chairman of the board, said in a statement.

Editor's Note:

Hug a retired teacher when you see one. We like hugs, although sometimes money is better!