Former state school employee Bailey paid in $114K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.12M in retirement

Former state school employee Debra Bailey, who retired in October 2018, saved $113,780 toward a pension over 21 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Bailey would collect as much as $2.12 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Bailey received $44,587 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Bailey will have already received $137,815 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.