The National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR)
is constituted as an independent organization dedicated to safeguarding
the integrity of public retirement systems in the United States and
its territories to which teachers belong and to promote the rights
and benefits of the members, present or future, of the systems. NCTR
had its beginnings in 1924; became affiliated with the National Education
Association in 1937; and became an independent association in 1971.
The Council is constituted as a nonprofit tax-exempt entity under
Section 501 (c) (6) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Members
NCTR membership includes 77 state, territorial, local, and university
pension systems. These systems serve more than 16 million active and
retired teachers, non-teaching personnel, and other public employees,
and have combined assets of more than $1.4 trillion in their trust
funds.
Purposes
The purposes of the Council are to:
- 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.
- 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 and devise solutions in those
problems; (c) act as a catalyst in dealing with federal legislative
and regulatory issues that impact plan administration.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
