What We Do

The Montana Teacher's Retirement System (TRS) was established by state law in 1937 with an initial enrollment of 3,367 members. Today, TRS administers the pension plan for more than 40,000 active members, retirees and other benefit recipients.

TRS was created to serve public school teachers and other public employees who work in an instructional or educational services capacity in the state of Montana. Membership in TRS is mandatory for all teachers, school administrators, and other educators in Montana's K-12 public school districts, community colleges, and educational co-ops, except for persons working fewer than thirty days (210 hours) in each fiscal year. Employees of certain state agencies involved in public education also are mandatory members of TRS.

Our mission is promote long-term financial security for our members while proactively maintaining the stability of the system.

Our vision is to be the trusted partner for retirement services and security. We strive to earn the respect of our members, the public education community, and citizens of Montana. 

We accomplish this by communicating effectively to our constituents, being responsive to their needs, and employing an effective and empowered professional staff and board well-versed in state and national issues impacting our members. To earn the respect and trust of our members, we adhere to the following values:

High ethical standards
Honesty, integrity, and impartiality
Dignity, respect, and mutual support
Service excellence

As a unit of State government, TRS is administratively attached to the Montana Department of Administration and is governed by a six-member Teachers' Retirement Board.

• See the Board section of this website for more details.

TRS employs 23 full-time staff, led by Executive Director Shawn Graham. TRS management staff include its Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, Chief Legal Counsel, IT Manager, Accounting/Fiscal Manager, and Communications Manager.

The administrative duties of TRS include enrolling new members, collecting member and employer contributions, and paying benefits to retired members and their eligible survivors.

TRS is a defined benefit pension plan qualified under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 401(a). 

Defined benefit (DB) pensions differ from defined contribution ("DC") retirement plans, such as 401(k) or 403(b) plans and IRA accounts. One of the most important differences is that DB pensions pays eligible retirees a fixed monthly benefit for the rest of their life. The benefit is calculated at the time of retirement and is based on the member’s years of service and salary – not their member account balance.

Funding

In a DB plan, both the employee and employer contribute a percentage of the employee’s compensation to the retirement system. The Montana Legislature – not TRS – sets employer and employee contribution rates. Currently, the State of Montana also makes supplemental contributions from the general fund to TRS each year to help ensure its continued financial stability.

Each TRS employer withholds contributions from employees’ pay on a pre-tax basis and remits them to TRS each month, along with a report of each employee’s hours and wages. Employees' contributions are deposited into their individual TRS member accounts, and TRS pays a modest amount of interest on those accounts each month.

Employer contributions, on the other hand, are not deposited into TRS members' accounts. They are pooled and carefully invested for long-term growth (see Investments, below) to help ensure the pension fund has enough assets to pay promised benefits for many decades to come. Research conducted by the National Institute on Retirement Security shows that, since 1993, earnings on investments have covered nearly 60% of benefit payments to retirees in Montana's public pensions. 

Source: National Institute on Retirement Security, Pensionomics 2025 - Montana.

TRS does not manage investments. 

Under Article VIII, Section 13 of Montana Constitution, the Montana Board of Investments (BOI) has sole authority over the investment of all State of Montana defined benefit retirement plan assets.

Information about the BOI can be found on their website: https://investmentmt.com/