Prairie State Wire

Former state school employee Donna Flowers, who retired in July 2018, saved $53,329 toward a pension over 14 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Flowers would collect as much as $831,077, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Prairie State Wire.

The projection assumes Flowers received $17,468 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Flowers will have already received $53,992 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.