Pension Funding

CTPF Funding Not in Jeopardy

By Jim Vail

Angela Miller May is the CTPF Chief Investment Officer

The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund said reports that they have lost 2.5 percent are false.

"The Fund is NOT declining in value or losing money," CTPF Chief Investment Office Angela Miller-May wrote in a memo last week to the fund's president.

She wrote that she wanted to "dispel the false narrative that CTPF is losing money and has lost $2 billion dollars since COVID and even pre-COVID."

CTPF returns were at 8.54 percent, with total assets at $11.2 billion at the end of September 30, 2020, and at the highest levels since before 2008 and the Global Financial crisis, she wrote.

Trustee candidates claimed and we reported that the fund had lost 2.5% in the past year. However, markets continue to be volatile and assets fluctuate daily which could make the numbers confusing. 

The exact numbers are reported in the annual CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) report in June. 

"In simple terms, CTPF does not react to short term market movements," Miller-May wrote.

She also stated that the current 47 percent fund status is the result of the lack of contributions for over 15 years, but with the "improvement in contributions driven by the Fund securing tax levy funding and normal state cost funding, it will still take some time for the fund to be fully Funded."

Miller-May wrote that the fund actuaries have reported that CTPF will be fully funded in 2059, but CTPF will not be able to invest its way out of the underfunding.

Jeffery Blackwell was just re-elected president to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund and a new Members First teacher trustee Phil Weiss joined the fund after upsetting Core in a recent election.

The teachers pension fund has hit the mainstream media news headlines after Blackwell denounced a culture of racism and said there have been a number of whistle blower complaints against trustees, resulting in "a cabal of evil."

Editor's Note:  This is the first in an on-going series about the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund.