{"id":906351,"date":"2026-07-01T22:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/906351\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T22:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:59:18","slug":"ktrs-explained-when-kentucky-educators-pensions-vest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/906351\/","title":{"rendered":"KTRS explained: When Kentucky educators\u2019 pensions vest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) &#8211; While Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins remains on paid administrative leave, questions have come in about Kentucky\u2019s teacher retirement system and when an employee becomes vested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Educators and many administrators in Kentucky public schools participate in the <a href=\"https:\/\/trs.ky.gov\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/trs.ky.gov\/\"><b>Kentucky Teachers\u2019 Retirement System (KTRS)<\/b>, <\/a>established in<b> <\/b>1938. KTRS provides a guaranteed lifetime retirement benefit based on years of service, final average salary, a multiplier and the payment option selected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">In Kentucky, KTRS members generally become <b>vested after five years of service<\/b> in Kentucky public schools. That means their pension benefit is secured once they meet that service requirement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">If a member leaves employment before retirement, they may leave their contributions in KTRS and begin drawing a monthly lifetime annuity once they reach an eligible age. Members may also be able to roll funds into another retirement program. Withdrawing money before retirement age can carry <b>IRS penalties<\/b>, depending on the situation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">State laws have changed over time, and eligibility requirements can depend on when a member first entered the system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">According to his contract, Liggins\u2019 start date was <b>July 26, 2021<\/b>, placing him in <b>Tier 3<\/b>, which applies to members who entered KTRS between <b>July 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2021<\/b>. Under Tier 3, members can begin withdrawing funds at <b>age 60<\/b> with <b>five years of service<\/b> without penalty. Members who contribute to KTRS for <b>27 years<\/b> can withdraw without penalty at any age. If someone leaves before becoming eligible for retirement, they can leave funds deposited or withdraw the accumulated balance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">In 2002, the Kentucky General Assembly amended state law stating that anyone convicted of a felony related to their employment forfeits retirement benefits and will only receive their retirement contributions returned, plus interest.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link | text-reset d-block h-100 w-100\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wkyt.com\/page\/wkyt-apps-for-ios-and-android-devices\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"WKYT Streaming Apps\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MEPHTWNVMREWLEQQWWFJM27ZMA.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) &#8211; While Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins remains on paid administrative leave, questions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":906352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,407,37209,357,366783,255,700,443,67016,67,132,68,366784],"class_list":["post-906351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-education","tag-educators","tag-kentucky","tag-kentucky-teacher-retirement-system","tag-personal-finance","tag-retirement","tag-system","tag-teacher","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vested"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}