West Virginia will close the $584 million Teachers Defined Contribution Retirement System, Charleston, to new participants. The closing is part of a major pension bill signed by Gov. Joe Manchin III last week. Anyone hired on or after July 1 will join a defined benefit plan, the $1.4 billion State Teachers' Retirement System, Charleston, according to Teresa Miller, acting executive director of the Consolidated Public Retirement Board, which oversees the plans.
The defined contribution plan could close entirely if a majority of teachers in the plan agree in a March 2006 vote to merge it with the newly opened defined benefit plan, Ms. Miller said.
The change is expected to save money because the defined benefit plan costs less for the state to administer, Ms. Miller said. The defined benefit plan originally was closed to teachers hired on or after July 1, 1991.
