Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The Public School Retirement System of Kansas City, Missouri has no automatic COLA. State law lets the Board of Trustees decide each year whether an increase is possible, but only if safeguards are met, including a funded ratio of at least 100% before adjusting for the increase and an actuary’s certification; the system reports an actuarial funded status of 69.8% as of January 1, 2026. Its own page says retirees have not received a COLA since 2008, and no benefit increase or extra check was issued for 2025 or 2024. No 2027 increase is set.
What Missouri law requires
RSMo 169.324 says: “The board of trustees shall determine annually whether the investment return on funds of the system can provide for an increase in benefits for retirants eligible for such increase.” The funding test: “The retirement system’s funded ratio as of January first of the year preceding the year of a proposed increase shall be at least one hundred percent before adjusting for the effect of the proposed increase.” The actuary’s role: “The actuary shall certify to the board of trustees that the proposed increase will not impair the actuarial soundness of the retirement system”. And: “This section does not guarantee an annual increase to any retirant.”
The Board’s policy
The 2025 annual report describes the amount of any increase: “In accordance with the Benefit Increase Adjustments Policy, if an increase is permissible, the amount of the increase will be equal to the lesser of 3% or the percentage increase in the CPI for the preceding year, subject to a cumulative increase of 100% subsequent to December 31, 2000.” It adds: “The Board reserves the right, at its sole discretion, not to award any Benefit Increase Adjustment or other supplements for any year, even if the statutory requirements for an increase are satisfied, or to provide increases in greater or lesser amounts than prescribed by this policy.”
Recent years
The annual report states: “For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 there was no Benefit Increase Adjustment or an extra check issued to eligible retirees.” On funding: “As of January 1, 2026, KCPSRS actuarial funded status is 69.8%, reflecting an increase from the January 1, 2025, actuarial funded status of 68.5%.” The system’s own page on the subject says: “retirees have not received a COLA since 2008”.
What the documents do not say
The system’s explanatory pages are short teasers whose full text sits in linked PDFs that were not archived, so the statement about 2008 rests on that one sentence and is undated. The month and amount of the 2008 increase are not stated. The statute measures the 100% test before the effect of a proposed increase, while the annual report describes it as after; the statute’s wording governs, and the Board’s 3% figure comes from the annual report, not the statute.
Where 2027 stands
No 2027 increase is set for Kansas City public school retirees: the system reports an actuarial funded status of 69.8% (the statute tests a ratio of assets to pension benefit obligation, a different measure), and no archived source announces one.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a yearly increase because other Missouri systems pay one. This system’s COLA is discretionary and depends on funding.
- Reading the 3% figure as a promise or a ceiling. The policy sets it for a permissible increase, and the annual report says the Board may award more, less or none.
- Confusing this system with other Kansas City retirement systems. Those are separate.
Related: Kansas City public school retirement retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether Missouri taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Missouri Revisor of Statutes, RSMo 169.324: revisor.mo.gov
- KCPSRS, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Fiscal Year 2025: www.kcpsrs.org
- KCPSRS, Why No Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)?: www.kcpsrs.org
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 411, Pensions: the General Rule and the Simplified Method: www.irs.gov
Read from the primary documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.