The State Journal-Register reports the Teachers’ Retirement System says the state needs to put more than $4.8 billion into the retirement fund for the budget year that begins July 1.

Illinois’ pension systems are more than $100 billion short of what’s needed to pay promised benefits, due largely to years of lawmakers shorting or skipping payments. Lawmakers in the financially troubled state have talked about fixing the problem for years.

Dick Ingram is executive director of TRS, which covers teachers outside of Chicago. He says the system’s investments had a good year but “we cannot invest our way out of this problem.”