- (a) The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System is a cost-sharing, multiple-employer, defined benefit pension plan established on March 17, 1937, by authority of the General Assembly under Arkansas Code § 24-7-101 et seq.
- (b) The system is operated as a qualified trust under 26 U.S.C. § 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
- (c) The system is a component unit of the State of Arkansas.
- (d) The General Assembly is responsible for setting benefits and contributions and amending plan provisions.
(e)
- (1) Ultimate authority, general administration, and responsibility for the proper operation of the system, and for making effective the provisions of Arkansas Code § 24-7-201 et seq., are vested in the fifteen-member Board of Trustees of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System.
- (2) Eleven (11) members are elected and four (4) members serve as ex officio members by virtue of their positions in state government.
- (3) The board appoints the Executive Director of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System who serves as the chief executive officer of the system.
- (f) The board promulgates rules as it deems necessary in the transaction of its business and in administering the system.
- (g) For administrative purposes, the executive director may organize the system in a manner that he or she determines is most efficient for the operation of the system.