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Metro East Sun

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Former state school employee Helms paid in $95K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.88M in retirement

Money 05

Former state school employee Cathy Helms, who retired in May 2017, saved $94,806 toward a pension over 25 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Helms would collect as much as $1.88 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Metro East Sun.

The projection assumes Helms received $39,621 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Helms will have already received $122,465 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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