Public Employees Retirement System

The Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) is currently a defined benefit program—a retired public employee is guaranteed a monthly retirement system based upon the number of years of service and the highest three years of salary.  There are proposals to change PERS from a defined benefit program to a defined contribution system.

The Nevada State Education Association is a strong proponent of the current defined benefit PERS system and does not believe it should be changed.

• The return on investment made by groups such as PERS is significantly higher than those made by individual retirees.  Currently PERS is averaging an 8 percent return on their investment.
• The opponents of a defined benefit program will argue that the PERS in not fiscally sound.  The PERS program is financially stable with over $20 billion in assets.
• A defined benefit plan is a great tool to attract and retain quality educators to our state
• PERS is a contract between the teacher and support professional with the state of Nevada providing guaranteed retirement benefits for as long as you live, with periodic adjustments for inflation.
• PERS invests through the best financial groups in the US.  Generally, an individual does not have the expertise of a financial expert and would not receive the same return that PERS receives on their investments.
• A defined contribution leaves the individual to invest in their own account and does not allow them to have the ability to get the savings that a large financial group like PERS does when they are investing hundreds of millions of dollars.
• A defined contribution limits the retirement of the individual to the amount of money they have contributed and once the money is gone there is no further benefit.