Former state school employee Sprengnether paid in $148K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.95M in retirement

Former state school employee Mary Sprengnether, who retired in June 2018, saved $147,721 toward a pension over 24 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Sprengnether would collect as much as $2.95 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Sprengnether received $62,104 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Sprengnether will have already received $191,957 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.