The Teachers Retirement Association (TRA) Board of Trustees invites TRA members and participating employers to take online surveys through October 30 as part of its strategic planning initiative.
The board is working with Mosaic Governance Advisors to better understand how members and other stakeholders perceive TRA and the defined benefit pension, what plan features matter most, and what changes stakeholders would like the board to prioritize in the future.
What members can expect
The membership survey is for TRA’s active members, inactive/deferred members, retirees, and beneficiaries.
The survey will take 10–15 minutes to complete. Members will be asked about:
- The value of their TRA benefits,
- The benefit features and outcomes that matter most to them, and
- Their knowledge of TRA.
What employers can expect
The participating employer survey is for TRA’s contacts at PreK–12 public and charter schools, Minnesota State colleges and universities, and more. These individuals typically serve in administrative, human resources, or payroll and accounting roles and report employment data to TRA.
The survey will take 10-15 minutes to complete. Employers will be asked about:
- The value of the TRA benefit in attracting and retaining educators,
- Their perception of TRA, and
- The feedback they receive from members.
Results and next steps
Once the stakeholder surveys close, Mosaic Governance Advisors will compile and review the results. Then, Mosaic Governance Advisors will present their key takeaways to trustees at the January 2027 board meeting. Mosaic Governance Advisors will share summary information from the surveys but not individual responses. The surveys are one component of the strategic development project’s stakeholder engagement and research phase.
FAQs – 2026 member and employer surveys
Neither the member nor the employer survey is designed to gather personally identifiable information. However, some questions are open-ended, and it is possible that respondents may enter information that compromises their anonymity.
No. Participants should only take the member or employer survey once. These surveys do not allow for multiple responses from the same device. The TRA Board of Trustees and Mosaic Governance Advisors ask that individuals act with integrity by only submitting one survey response.
This timeframe aligns with the stakeholder engagement and research insights phase of the TRA board’s strategic development project. Once the survey closes, the board’s strategic planning partner Mosaic Governance Advisors must review the results and prepare a summary to present at the January 2027 TRA Board of Trustees meeting.
No, not directly. Mosaic Governance Advisors will compile and review the survey results. Then, Mosaic Governance Advisors will present their key takeaways to trustees at the January 2027 board meeting. The TRA board will not receive individual responses.
No. The surveys are only available online. Mosaic Governance Advisors is using a Survey Monkey webpage to administer the survey.
If you are simultaneously a participating employer contact and a TRA member, you can take each survey once. Only take one survey if both roles do not apply.