LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – For more than a decade, one of the biggest expenses school districts across the state deal with is rising pension costs.

The total costs of providing a pension for public school employees reached $96.9 billion in 2024, according to the state of Michigan’s most recent report. The state has $72.5 billion set aside to cover those costs. That $24.3 billion gap is referred to as the “net pension liability.”

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It is a cost that has plagued public school districts. For example, Kalamazoo Public School made $30.5 million in pension contributions in 2024. That’s an increase of $5.3 million from the pension contribution the district made in 2020.

In an attempt to deal with the rising pension costs, the state Legislature enacted pension reforms in 2010, 2012 and 2017.

In 2024, the state of Michigan reported that Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System had a net pension liability of $24.39 billion. When the state Legislature enacted its latest pension reform in 2017, the net pension liability was $26.48 billion.