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Dupage Policy Journal

Friday, June 20, 2025

Former state school employee Gardner paid in $242K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $5.6M in retirement

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Former state school employee James Gardner, who retired in May 2017, saved $242,482 toward a pension over 40 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Gardner would collect as much as $5.6 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Gardner received $117,641 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Gardner will have already received $363,616 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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