See updated NYCTRS description in final paragraph.
New York’s two teacher pension systems last year had 25 retirees eligible to collect pensions of more than $300,000, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
The largest pension went to Leticia Calderon, a 2010 New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) retiree who collected $520,398. Among the other $300,000+ pensioners, 17 retired from NYC DOE, four retired from Long Island school districts, two retired from CUNY and one retired from a Westchester County district.
The data show 7,259 retirees, primarily from school districts, were eligible to collect pensions of $100,000 or more. Teacher pensions in New York do not include Social Security payments and are exempt from state income taxes.
Newly retired career educators (teachers and administrators with at least 30 years of experience) in Westchester County had pensions averaging $98,477 (175 retirees) while on Long Island the average was $95,963 (568 retirees). The average new career educator pension outside New York City was $75,103 (2,590 retirees).
The data were obtained from the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York (TRSNYC) and the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS) thanks to the Empire Center’s years-long effort to litigate and protect the public’s right to know the names of pension recipients which culminated in a landmark 2014 Court of Appeals decision. Data reported from TRSNYC reflect actual payments (which include annuity payments from optional contributions by some plan participants) while NYSTRS reports maximum allowable benefits.
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