Legislature 2008: Teacher Pensions

As The Associated Press reports, lawmakers will likely act this session after the state Supreme Court declined to review a circuit judge's ruling blocking the planned merger of West Virginia's two teacher retirement programs.

The ruling allows around 19,164 teachers and school officials with 401(k)-style retirement accounts to retain direct control of them. But figures show that the average account contains $33,944.

"Of the 1,100 account holders age 60 or older, 23 had more than $100,000 last year," AP reports. "The largest of those accounts had $157,000."

Had the merger gone through, the accounts would have become part of the Teachers' Retirement System, or TRS. Though the state continues to struggle to reduce a severe funding shortfall in TRS, its retirees "can count on between $200,000 and $400,000 in total benefits."

Lawmakers have studied options that include "allowing account holders to transfer voluntarily to TRS, which also requires its enrollees to contribute a higher percentage of their pay, the AP article said. "Lawmakers have debated whether to require these transfers to pay makeup amounts to resolve the difference in contribution rates."

MetroNews talks to Jim Lees, a lawyer for account holders who opposed the merger, as part of its coverage of Thursday's decision.