Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Bills to raise employer contribution aim to stabilize St. Louis public‑school pension fund
Loading...
Summary
House Bill 404 (and companion/related language) would raise employer contributions to the St. Louis public‑school pension system to 14% in order to improve funding levels; trustees and school officials testified the change is aimed at removing the system from a watch list and restoring long‑term funding stability.
Representatives Doug Clemens and Barry Hovis presented House Bill 404 (combined with related language in HB1504 for committee consideration), proposing a statutory increase in the employer contribution rate to the retirement system that serves St. Louis public‑school employees and participating charter schools.
Why it matters: Witnesses testified the St. Louis system has declined in funded ratio since changes enacted in 2017 and is on a joint committee watch list. Sponsors and system representatives said increasing the employer contribution to 14% and holding it there would materially improve the system’s projected funding trajectory and shorten the time until the system becomes sufficiently funded to consider a cost‑of‑living adjustment for retirees.
Louis Cross III, chair of the PSRSSTL (the St. Louis public‑school retirement system), testified the system is “now only 64.3% funded and will remain below 70% through 2039,” and described projections in which, if employer contributions are set to 14% beginning in 2026, the funded ratio would improve substantially (testimony cited a projected funded ratio of 89.3% by 2039 under the proposal). Cross described past changes (2017 legislation) that reduced employer contributions while increasing benefit eligibility and argued the cap must be corrected to restore actuarial soundness.
School officials and trustees supported the bill. Matt Davis, vice president of the St. Louis Board of Education, said district leaders had negotiated and run multiple actuarial scenarios and view the 14% employer contribution as the most feasible option to put the system back on a sustainable trajectory while preserving recent teacher pay increases and absorbing other rising costs such as health‑benefit increases.
Witnesses from teacher and retiree organizations also testified in support: the American Federation of Teachers of Missouri, the Missouri Retired Teachers Association, and the system’s representatives urged passage to protect retiree benefits and allow the system to consider a future COLA once funding thresholds are met.
Committee members asked several implementation and actuarial questions: whether the 14% is a jump or phased increase (witnesses said it would be a jump from the current 12.5% to 14%); whether actuaries examined changes to retirement age or benefit structure (witnesses said actuarial work had been done on contribution scenarios and that earlier policy changes reduced retirement age without sufficient actuarial offset); and how the funding change would impact the timing of any future COLA (witnesses said a COLA generally requires the system to be near 80–100% funded and that projections under the 14% scenario could permit consideration of COLA in the longer term).
No final committee vote on HB 404 or the related language was recorded in the hearing transcript; the bill was presented and multiple parties testified in favor. Committee members indicated the matter may be on the omnibus pension package or returned for further action.
