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Virginia Retirement System

Since 1908, the Commonwealth of Virginia has been providing retirement services for teachers.  Over that time the program has been updated and adjusted to become the Virginia Retirement System.  The Virginia Retirement System exists as a partnership between the employee, the school division, and the Commonwealth to fund the employee's retirement plan.  In recent years, VRS has been amended several times and exists now as three different plans.  The employee membership plan is usually based upon the employee's hire date.

Employees contribute 5% of their salary toward VRS and the Employer shares in the cost. The Employer pays as follows for Plan 1 and Plan II Employees: Professional Staff contribution is 14.06% and Non-professional Staff contribution is 6.9%. The Employer pays 1.06% toward the Employee’s Health Credit at retirement. This is a dollar amount set by the General Assembly for each year of service credit and it is applied to your retirement benefit payment. It can’t exceed the amount of the individual retirement premium.

To review the three retirement plans through VRS read below or the VRS Plan Comparison Guide.

Plan 1
The Plan 1 members are those members that:

  • joined prior to July 1, 2010,
  • were vested by January 1, 2013,
  • and have not opted to join the Hybrid plan.
Plan 2
The Plan 2 members are those members that:

 

  • joined before July 1, 2010 but were not vested by January 1, 2013 or
  • joined between July 1, 2010 and December 31, 2013,
  • and have not opted to join the Hybrid plan.


Hybrid Plan
The Hybrid Retirement Plan combines the features of a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan. The plan applies to most members hired on or after January 1, 2014.

  • The defined benefit is based on your age, creditable service and average final compensation at retirement using a formula.
  • The benefit from the defined contribution plan depends on the contributions made to the plan and the investment performance of those contributions.
  • In addition to the monthly benefit payment payable from the defined benefit plan at retirement, you may start receiving distributions from the balance in your defined contribution account, reflecting the contributions, investment gains or losses, and any required fees.

Hybrid Plan Updates:
Hybrid Resolve to Save
VRS Regional Rep Contact Sheet
VRS Hybrid Seminar Schedule
VRS Current Asset Allocation

For more information regarding the Virginia Retirement System, you may visit their website at www.varetire.org.