Maryland Teachers Pension Calculator Help
The calculator covers the two plans most active Maryland teachers are in: ACPS for members enrolled before July 1, 2011 and the Reformed plan for everyone after. Here's what each input does.
Your plan
ACPS if you were a member before July 1, 2011. The Reformed plan if you were hired on or after that date, or if you were a pre-2011 member who never vested, left, and came back more than four years later. Your annual statement from the State Retirement Agency names the plan.
Current age and the age you leave
The calculator adds the years between them to your service. Then it checks the age you leave against your plan's rules: unreduced, early with a reduction, vested with a later start date, or not eligible.
Years of service and pre-1998 service
Use the creditable service on your statement. ACPS members also enter how much of it was earned through June 30, 1998, because those years count at 1.2% instead of 1.8%. If you started after that date, leave it at 0. Unused sick leave counts as service only if you retire within 30 days of leaving, so it isn't added here.
Average Final Compensation
The average of your three (ACPS) or five (Reformed) highest consecutive years of earnable compensation. A raise above 20% in one year generally doesn't count unless it came from a promotion or election to public office.
Reading the result
The monthly figure is the Basic Allowance, the largest option, which stops when you die. Survivor options pay less. If you're early, the reduction is 0.5% per month before 62 (ACPS) or 65 (Reformed), capped at 42% or 30%. ACPS members leaving before 55 with 15+ years also see what an early vested allowance at 55 would pay.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between ACPS and the Reformed plan?
ACPS: 1.2% per year through June 30, 1998 and 1.8% after, a 3-year AFC, unreduced at 62 with 5 years or 30 years at any age, early at 55 with 15 years (up to a 42% cut), 5-year vesting. Reformed: 1.5% per year, a 5-year AFC, unreduced at 65 with 10 years or the Rule of 90, early at 60 with 15 years (up to 30%), 10-year vesting.
Is the early reduction measured from my earliest unreduced date?
No. It's 0.5% for each month before your 62nd birthday (ACPS) or 65th birthday (Reformed), whatever your service.
Can I retire unreduced at 60 with 15 years?
No. That path doesn't exist in either plan. At 60 with 15 years an ACPS member is 24 months short of 62 and takes a 12% cut. A Reformed member at 60 with 15 years takes 30%.
Does the calculator include the COLA?
It describes it but leaves it out of the dollar totals. The cap depends on when the benefit was earned and, after June 30, 2011, on whether the fund met its assumed return that year.