As states look to respond to demonstrations about budgets and salaries, updates to teacher compensation policies are on the mind of many policymakers and advocates. One important yet controversial component of these updates has to be teacher benefits, according to Chad Aldeman of TeacherPensions.org, a Bellwether Education Partners project dedicated to providing high-quality information and analysis on teacher pensions. The publications and reports available on the site are tremendously helpful in understanding the nuances of teacher pension systems.

Below are just a few of their latest reports:

• In their most recent resource, Benefits Take Larger Bite Out of District K-12 Budgets, the authors analyze district budgets and determine that even though benefits have become more expensive, districts have not increased their budgets accordingly.
• Experts on the site frequently analyze the details of pension systems in specific states. For example, in An Overview of Arkansas’ Teacher Pension Plan, the authors dig in on Arkansas’ pension program, offering suggestions for improvement.
• In Retirement Reality Check: Grading State Teacher Pension Plans, the authors create a grading rubric to analyze whether teachers are earning sufficient retirement benefits and whether teachers’ retirement benefits are portable.

For those looking to dig in on pensions, explore the full site here.