State-by-State Comparison

2023 Pension Contribution Rate — The share of associated education expenditures (teacher salaries, support staff, administration, and operations) absorbed by employer pension contributions in 2023. A higher percentage means more of the education budget is going toward pension costs rather than direct classroom spending. The national weighted average is shown for reference.

Current DR Scenario — What the contribution rate would need to be to fully fund pension obligations under each plan's own actuarial discount rate, amortized over a 20-year horizon. When this figure exceeds the actual 2023 contribution rate, it can reflect one or both of the following: the plan is currently underfunding relative to its own actuarial targets, or the plan's own amortization schedule extends beyond the 20-year horizon used here. Many public pension plans use amortization schedules that extend 25–30 years, which mechanically lowers near-term required contributions.

DR -1%, -1.5%, -2% Scenarios — Required contribution rates if investment return assumptions were lowered by 1, 1.5, or 2 percentage points from current levels. Lower assumed returns require higher contributions today to fund the same future benefit promises. These scenarios illustrate the sensitivity of pension costs to modest changes in financial market expectations.

Market Value Scenario — Required contributions under a risk-free valuation that discounts pension liabilities using U.S. Treasury yields rather than assumed investment returns. Many economists argue this better reflects the true cost of guaranteed pension promises, since those promises are not contingent on investment performance. This scenario typically produces the highest required contribution rate.

Stated Funding Ratio — Plan assets divided by total pension liabilities (TPL) using each plan's own actuarial assumptions, aggregated across plans within the state. A ratio above 80% is generally considered healthy. Below 60% signals significant underfunding that will require either higher contributions, benefit reductions, or both over time.

Market Value Funding Ratio — The same calculation using Treasury-yield valuation of liabilities, which produces a more conservative and economically grounded funding ratio. Because this approach values guaranteed pension liabilities using risk-free rates rather than expected investment returns, market value funding ratios are systematically lower than stated ratios and reflect the gap between what plans report under their own actuarial assumptions and what independent risk-adjusted valuation suggests.