Retired Dakota CUSD 201 employee Karla Swiggum saved $6,290 toward her pension over 6 years working for public schools, Illinois Teachers' Retirement Fund (TRS) records show.
Over 33 years of retirement, Swiggum would collect as much as $518,000, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes NW Illinois News.
Swiggum, 62, who currently lives in Jackson, WY earned $16,135 in her final year at Dakota CUSD 201.
The projection assumes Swiggum will receive 54.3 percent of that total - $8,762 - in her first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.
After three years of retirement, Swiggum will have already received $27,082 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of her contributions to the state teachers' pension fund.
According to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), 36.9 percent of Dakota CUSD 201 students met or exceeded the standards for the "PARCC" exams. ISBE reported that 71.1 percent of district's graduates were deemed "college ready" last year.
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