Quantcast

Chicago City Wire

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Former substitute teacher Cunningham paid in $5K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $74K in retirement

Shutterstock 267646277

Former substitute teacher Michael Cunningham, who retired in October 2018, saved $5,382 toward a pension over 4 years working for public schools, Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Cunningham would collect as much as $73,768, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Cunningham received $1,550 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 4 years of retirement, Cunningham will have already received $6,486 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

MORE NEWS