Former state school employee Odea paid in $227K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $5.18M in retirement

Former state school employee Donna Odea, who retired in October 2018, saved $227,380 toward a pension over 35 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Odea would collect as much as $5.18 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Odea received $108,960 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Odea will have already received $336,785 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.