Nothing about your pension rolls anywhere: teaching and other certificated service earns a CalSTRS benefit, classified service a CalPERS one, and each system sets its own rules for members who leave. The rollover decision belongs to your supplemental accounts — 403(b)s and 457(b)s — where four options apply and one caution stands out: an IRA rollover strips a governmental 457(b) of its penalty-free early access.
How an LBUSD career builds retirement benefits
Long Beach Unified serves a large share of the families in our corner of the county, and its payroll reflects it: classroom teachers, counsellors and nurses on the certificated side; instructional aides, office staff, custodians, food-service and transportation workers on the classified side. The pension split follows those categories — certificated service accrues in CalSTRS, classified service in CalPERS.
SchoolsFirst FCU states it is the third-party administrator for Long Beach USD, which offers 403(b), Roth 403(b), 457(b) and Roth 457(b). Check your statement and SPD for the accounts and providers that apply to you.
The four options for your supplemental accounts
Run each 403(b) and 457(b) through this table separately — a keeper and a mover can sit in the same drawer.
| Option | Good when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Leave it | Institutional share classes priced below anything retail | The plan can push out small balances, and forgotten accounts drift |
| Roll to new employer | Simplicity: future-you deals with one plan instead of several | Menus vary wildly — the receiving plan may be the weaker one |
| Roll to an IRA | Freedom to hold nearly anything and to hire the adviser you choose | Once money is in a pre-tax IRA, backdoor Roth math gets harder |
| Cash out | A verified emergency after every cheaper source of funds | Tax at your marginal rate, a likely 10% penalty under 59½, and lost decades of growth |
Before you roll a governmental 457(b) to an IRA. After you separate from the district, a governmental 457(b) pays out at any age free of the 10% early-distribution penalty — protection an IRA cannot replicate before 59½. Rolling that balance over is therefore a one-way trade of flexibility for menu, and it should be priced, not sleepwalked into. Details in our 457(b) guide.
Things to check before leaving LBUSD
- Your system, tier and vesting. CalSTRS or CalPERS, and where you stand in it, frame everything — request a current benefit estimate from the system itself.
- The full roster of your supplemental accounts. Vendors change over the years; educators often discover accounts they stopped funding in 2011. Inventory first.
- Annuity surrender schedules. Your statement, SPD or HR confirms your contract type and any surrender terms.
- Whether a refund would cost you a pension. Withdrawing your CalSTRS or CalPERS contributions generally surrenders the matching service credit — confirm consequences with the system before touching that lever.
- Transfer paperwork and the administrator. SchoolsFirst FCU states it is the third-party administrator for Long Beach USD.
Old warnings about Social Security no longer apply
For decades California educators were told their Social Security would be cut by the Windfall Elimination Provision or the Government Pension Offset. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed in January 2025, repealed both — so benefit projections and handouts from before then understate what many LBUSD retirees will actually receive. Re-run any estimate that predates the repeal at ssa.gov.
Always transfer directly. However each supplemental account is handled, insist that funds travel institution-to-institution. Under IRC § 3405(c) a cheque in your own name forfeits 20% to withholding immediately, recoverable only by finishing a 60-day rollover topped up from your other money.
Common questions
If I move to another district, does my pension move too?
Your membership generally continues in the same system — CalSTRS for certificated posts, CalPERS for classified — so nothing needs to move; service simply keeps accruing. The supplemental accounts are the ones that need decisions, since the new district’s vendor roster may differ.
Should classified employees read the CalPERS page or this one?
Both, for different halves: the CalPERS guide for the pension elections, this page for the 403(b)/457(b) decisions. The two halves interact — early retirement plans, for example, raise the value of keeping a 457(b) intact.
Can you review a teacher’s accounts without selling an annuity?
That is the entire premise of the firm. We are fee-only fiduciaries — no products, no vendor compensation, one published fee — which lets us evaluate the annuities you already own on their merits alone.
Ten minutes from the district office, on your side of the table
Pension estimate, vendor statements and your timeline — bring the pile and we will turn it into a plan.