One of the many choic­es New Orleans’ char­ter school oper­a­tors face is whether or not to par­tic­i­pate in the Teach­ers’ Retire­ment Sys­tem of Louisiana (TRSL). This deci­sion has large fis­cal impli­ca­tions for schools and also impacts how schools approach recruit­ing and retain­ing teach­ers. As New Orleans edu­ca­tors con­tin­ue to think about the pipeline chal­lenge and teacher turnover, the issue of TRSL par­tic­i­pa­tion will remain an impor­tant one. In this Pol­i­cy and Research Brown Bag Lunch, Tulane Uni­ver­si­ty’s Jesse Chanin pro­vides answers to sev­er­al key ques­tions: How does the TRSL pen­sion sys­tem work? Which types of schools par­tic­i­pate in TRSL? How does teacher work­force com­po­si­tion in schools with TRSL com­pare to that of schools with­out TRSL? How is the avail­abil­i­ty of pen­sions relat­ed to teacher retention?