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South Cook News

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Former state school employee Sowinski Baiza paid in $110K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.13M in retirement

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Former state school employee Mary Sowinski Baiza, who retired in May 2018, saved $109,880 toward a pension over 27 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Sowinski Baiza would collect as much as $2.13 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes South Cook News.

The projection assumes Sowinski Baiza received $44,743 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Sowinski Baiza will have already received $138,296 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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