Active Members

While still actively dedicated to educating Chicago's students, you should be just as active in your retirement planning. Your retirement benefit is an important part of your future financial picture, and as an active member of The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund (CTPF), it’s important to understand your benefits in order to help plan for the future.

Retirement Resources

Information for CTPF Members Considering Retirement

2021 Retirement Webinars If you're considering retirement in 2021, we invite you to join the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund (CTPF) for a retirement webinar. These webinars provide retirement

CTPF Member Benefits

The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund (CTPF) is a defined benefit retirement plan which provides a lifetime retirement benefit to vested members who meet minimum age and service requirements. For detailed information about retirement benefits and eligibility requirements, download the Your CTPF Pension information sheet.

Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 Pensions

The Illinois legislature adopted a different set of pension vesting requirements for CTPF members who join on or after January 1, 2011. Members who joined prior to this date are considered Tier 1. Members who join after January 1, 2011, are considered Tier 2.

Maximizing Your Pension

Your CTPF pension is based on your years of service and a pension percentage (up to 75%), multiplied by your final average salary. There are ways to increase these factors to enhance your pension or meet eligibility requirements.

Annual Member Statement

Every year in the fall, active CTPF members receive a Statement of Estimated Contributions and Benefits that summarizes the individual member’s contributions and service credit as reported by the employer(s) (CPS and/or Charter Schools) for the previous fiscal year (fiscal years run July 1-June 30).

Leaving Employment

When you leave employment with CPS or a charter school, you must decide how to manage the pension assets you have accumulated with the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund (CTPF). There are three primary options when leaving employment:

Retirement Application

Applying for retirement is a process, and the process begins by completing the Retirement Application Packet. Download and read this Retirement Application carefully and complete all necessary forms. An incomplete form will delay the processing of your retirement benefit.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, members are strongly encouraged to submit all forms and information by fax 312.641.7185 or email a .pdf or .jpg file to imaging@ctpf.org. Electronic submission is the best way to ensure delivery during this time as U.S. Mail processing may be delayed.