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West Cook News

Monday, July 14, 2025

Former state school employee Gaertner paid in $79K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.5M in retirement

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Former state school employee Linda Gaertner, who retired in June 2017, saved $78,865 toward a pension over 21 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Gaertner would collect as much as $1.5 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes West Cook News.

The projection assumes Gaertner received $31,598 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Gaertner will have already received $97,666 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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