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Stivers: Teachers' Pension System Dogged by 'Systemic' Woes

Sergey Kuzmin, 123rf stock photo

  The Kentucky Senate's top leader says "systemic" problems in the teachers' retirement system are a main factor for the pension system's funding woes.

Senate President Robert Stivers said Wednesday that lawmakers have fully funded the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System as required by law.

Stivers is among top Republican leaders who unveiled a plan to revamp the state's underfunded public pension systems.

The legislation hasn't been released, but details have drawn criticism from many teachers.

Stivers referenced a teachers' system report showing less than 10 percent of the pension debt was due to insufficient contributions from lawmakers.

Stivers said teachers should be pressing for answers about what caused most of the problem. KTRS executive Beau Barnes said most of the problems found in reports cited by Stivers were caused by market downturns during the Great Recession.

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