About NCTR

About NCTR

The National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR) is constituted as an independent association dedicated to safeguarding the integrity of public retirement systems in the United States and its territories to which teachers belong and to promoting the rights and benefits of all present and future members of the systems.

NCTR began in 1924, affiliated with the National Education Association in 1937, and became an independent association in 1971. NCTR is constituted as a nonprofit tax-exempt entity under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code.

NCTR’s membership includes 63 state, territorial, and local pension systems. These systems serve more than 19 million active and retired teachers, non-teaching personnel, and other public employees, and have combined assets of more than $2 trillion in their trust funds.

VISION STATEMENT

A strong and secure retirement future for all teachers and educational employees.

MISSION STATEMENT

THE Resource for fostering strategic partnerships and providing training and pension advocacy for the educational community.

Core Values

  • Integrity: Conduct business in an open, honest, ethical, and professional manner.
  • Dedication: Be diligent at all times in our efforts to achieve organizational goals.
  • Excellence: Exceed the expectations of our members.
  • Diversity: Reflect and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in membership, governance, and programs.
  • Collaboration: Promote engagement, cooperation and partnerships to achieve retirement security for educators and other public employees.
  • Innovation: Meet the challenges of the future with leadership, creativity, and accountability in response to changing needs.

Purposes

The purposes of the Council are to:

  • null

    Provide guidance in the development and management of financially sound and equitable retirement plans for qualified career public employees and to promote benefit levels for members and beneficiaries that will assure economic security.

  • null

    Encourage plan directors, administrators, and trustees to: (a) provide progressive leadership and sound management to assure that plan objectives are attained; (b) identify problems that impact plan administration.

  • null

    Provide a national forum for the discussion and resolution of public policy issues affecting public pension funds by: (a) collecting and analyzing data about the funds; (b) presenting the results of such analysis to Congress, relevant federal agencies, and comparable state bodies; and (c) acting as a clearinghouse so that NCTR members can share information about state legislative and state court litigation activity.

  • null

    Encourage the development of standards of conduct for plan fiduciaries that will assure control and management of plan assets for the exclusive benefit of members and beneficiaries.

  • null

    Counsel NCTR member systems in the development of procedures to assure disclosure to members (and others where required by law) of all information relating to the plan, including benefits and funding. This activity should include the publication and distribution of annual reports reflecting the financial condition of the plan, as well as the distribution to each participant of an annual statement reflecting the status of his/her account.

  • null

    Urge NCTR member systems to undergo periodic actuarial evaluations to determine the soundness of funding practices. The valuation should utilize sound actuarial procedures to assure the adequacy of each plan’s funding.

  • null

    Encourage NCTR member systems to develop a statement of investment objectives and policies designed to protect plan assets and to achieve the best possible investment yields, consistent with the standards of prudence imposed upon funding fiduciaries.

X