Retired Prairie Du Rocher CCSD 134 employee Diane Young saved $53,349 toward her pension over 17 years working for public schools, Illinois Teachers' Retirement Fund (TRS) records show.
Over 35 years of retirement, Young would collect as much as $1.175 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes SW Illinois News.
Young, 60, who currently lives in Arlington, TN, earned $55,176 in her final year at Prairie Du Rocher CCSD 134.
The projection assumes Young will receive 33 percent of that total - $18,203 - in her first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.
After three years of retirement, Young will have already received $56,264 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of her contributions to the state teachers' pension fund.
According to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), 23.6 percent of Prairie Du Rocher CCSD 134 students met or exceeded the standards for the "PARCC" exams.