FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) – The Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Kentucky (TRS) has posted its fourth consecutive year of double-digit investment gains for the recently concluded fiscal year, marking a massive financial milestone for a pension system once plagued by a multi-billion dollar funding crisis.
According to figures presented to the TRS Investment Committee, the pension system’s Retirement Annuity Trust posted a 15.04% gross return (14.75% net after fees) for the fiscal year ending June 30. The retiree Health Insurance Trust performed even higher, posting a 16.06% gross return (15.79% net after fees).
The stellar performance follows consecutive years of strong returns:
Annuity Trust previous three years: 12.27%, 10.61%, and 12.34%Health Trust previous three years: 12.73%, 11.94%, and 12.58%
According to an analysis by Aon Investments USA comparing domestic pension plans with more than $1 billion in assets, TRS’s annuity investments ranked in the top third of all plans across all periods. Its three-year return placed in the top decile, while its 10-year return ranked in the top 4% nationwide.
Over the last 30 years, the annuity trust has generated an 8% compounded annual return, comfortably outpacing the state’s 7.1% long-term assumed rate of return.
A Major Turnaround from the ‘Pension Crisis’
The consecutive years of double-digit growth represent a dramatic shift from Kentucky’s recent history. For nearly two decades, Kentucky’s public pension systems were widely regarded as some of the most severely underfunded in the United States.
A combination of poor stock market returns during the Great Recession, actuarial miscalculations, and—most notably—decades of state legislatures failing to contribute the full actuarially recommended funding left the system with more than $14 billion in unfunded liabilities by 2017.
The crisis led to years of intense political warfare in Frankfort:
2013 Reforms: Lawmakers created a hybrid cash-balance plan for new employees and eliminated automated cost-of-living increases, while mandating that the state finally pay its full actuarially required contribution—something it had not done regularly since the 1990s.The 2018 Rallies: Proposed changes to teacher pensions under former Gov. Matt Bevin sparked massive teacher protests, shut down school districts across the state, and packed the State Capitol with thousands of educators demanding the protection of their retirement security.
Full State Funding and Ongoing Legislative Friction
Officials attribute the system’s current upward trajectory directly to a change in state funding policy. During the recently concluded fiscal year, TRS benefited from another year of full funding from the state budget, supplemented by an additional $40 million from the state’s budget reserve trust fund.
“The approach of the TRS Board of Trustees and investment team is disciplined and focused on the best returns in all types of markets,” TRS Executive Secretary Gary Harbin said in a statement. “With another year of great returns and continued full funding—for which we’re very appreciative—the retirement security of Kentucky teachers continues to be ensured.”
Despite the strong investment returns, structural funding remains a point of high-stakes political friction between Kentucky educators and lawmakers.
Under the landmark 2010 “Shared Responsibility” law (House Bill 540), active teachers agreed to have 3.75% of their paychecks deducted to prefund the retiree health insurance trust, with the promise that the deductions would decrease or end once the fund was stabilized.
However, in the 2025 legislative session, the Republican-led General Assembly overrode a veto by Gov. Andy Beshear to pass House Bill 694. The new law redirects school district health contributions to the main pension fund and delays any reduction of the active teachers’ 3.75% payroll contribution until both the health trust and the main pension fund are 100% funded—a milestone actuaries estimate may not be reached until 2047.
Beshear and teacher advocacy groups criticized the bill as a “broken promise” that pulls $1,400 to $2,800 annually out of active educators’ pockets during an ongoing statewide teacher recruitment shortage.
With the main pension fund stabilized by strong market returns and consistent state budget support, teachers continue to navigate a delicate balance of strong retirement security coupled with ongoing legislative battles over their monthly paychecks.
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