By Benjamin VanMetre, from 2015, includes “… the employer does not pay the employer share of teacher retirements in Illinois. The state, not the school district, pays the employer portion of teacher pensions, even though teachers are employees of the local school districts and not the state. .. the employees often don’t pay the employee share of their own pensions either. … over the years, school districts began paying, as a benefit, the teacher’s required contribution. …”