COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLS RETRMT SYS

The Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System is a private investment management organization that serves to provide retirement benefits to the public school employees within the state of Pennsylvania. The system is based out of Harrisburg within the state and was established in 1917. The Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System would have over 37,000 members by 1919 from the merger of 13 school retirement systems and would reach over 50,000 members by 1924 with over $7.3 million in the retirement fund. By the 1950s, the system would be reaching its 100,000th member with total assets of over half a trillion. In 1975, a new retirement code was established that would make the system into an independent administrative board, liberalizing the system’s authority to invest in common stock and allowing part time employees to be eligible for membership. The Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System would continue to grow and expand, moving into its current headquarters in Harrisburg in 1987. By 1991 the system would have over $19 billion in total assets under management with over 100,000 retirees and 200,000 active members, and the system would begin paying out over $1 billion in total benefits by 1994. By 1995, the system would have $30 billion in assets as the system began to convert to the PSERS Business System with a new proves for serving the membership. Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System currently has over 600,000 members today and holds over $52 billion in total assets, although that amount has been as high as over $60 billion. The system invests most heavily in the energy sector, which alone makes up over a third of its total asset allocations, and also invests in the finance, information technology, health care, consumer discretionary, and utilities and telecommunications, among others to a lesser degree, in order of decreasing allocation.