Most people are pretty familiar with the 401k, a supplemental defined contribution retirement plan offered by many private employers. In the public sector, including public schools, most employers offer the 403b instead, which actually predates the 401k and functions in much the same way. Public employers also have the ability to offer a 457b plan, which is an additional “bucket” that public employees can contribute to that offers a few attractive advantages to the 401k and 403b.
Unfortunately, most 403bs have way too high of fees, and even the good ones usually have higher fees than 401ks (and definitely IRAs). Employees in Colorado public schools, however, are lucky in that they all have access to Colorado PERA’s 401k, which has excellent fees and fund choices and is better than any 403b their employer may offer. All Colorado PERA employers (which includes all public schools) are required to offer the pre-tax version of the PERA 401k and they can opt-in to offer the Roth version (most, but not all, do). School districts can also opt-in to PERA’s equally good 457b, giving educators two separate “buckets” to invest in (the 401k and 403b share the same “bucket”, the 457 is a separate bucket, meaning participants who have access to both can contribute up to twice as much each year). Each year I ask PERA for the updated list of what employers offer, and they are kind enough to send that to me. I then update my spreadsheets so that when I’m talking with folks I can easily tell what their district offers (PERA employers offering Roth, PERA employers offering the 457). While I’ve suggested that the state legislature should require the 457 (as well as auto-enroll and auto-escalate), I very much doubt they will listen to me (for some reason, they don’t always recognize my brilliance), but employees reaching out to their own Human Resources Department are likely to have much better luck.
Those spreadsheets list who offers the Roth version of the 401k, and who offers the 457, but it doesn’t list who doesn’t offer them. Because of a provision in the Secure Act 2.0, all employers will have to offer the Roth 401k starting January 1, 2026, so that will be a mute point (there are currently 31 districts/charter schools that don’t offer the Roth).
Update 4-2-25: There were new rules issues in DC that says this only applies to Social Security-covered wages. Since most PERA employers do not pay into Social Security, this is no longer a mute point as most PERA employers will not have to add the Roth 401k by January. So if you are in one of the 31 districts/schools that don’t offer the Roth 401k, request.
But there are currently 50 districts/charter schools that don’t offer the 457, even though they can offer it at no cost to them, they are already connected to PERA so it’s a pretty simple software change to implement it, and it offers their employees a second great supplemental retirement plan choice (that also offers penalty-free withdrawals before age 59.5 if they leave their employer as well as higher catch-up provisions). I helped someone from a charter school add the 457 last year, and it took them just a couple of days and employees could start contributing the following month. That’s how easy it is to add.
So I thought it might be worthwhile to list those not-so-nifty fifty, so that employees of these districts/charter schools could be more aware and then could reach out to their HR departments and ask them (nicely) to add the 457. Again, it’s easy to add, no cost to the district/school, and offers a valuable additional benefit to all employees. So here is the not-so-nifty fifty who are not currently offering PERA’s 457:
| Name | County |
| Colorado High School Charter | Denver |
| Denver Public Schools | Denver |
| KIPP Colorado Schools | Denver |
| Omar D. Blair Edison Charter | Denver |
| Wyatt-Edison Charter | Denver |
| AXL Academy | Adams |
| Academy at High Point | Adams |
| Adams County School District 14 | Adams |
| Akron School District | Washington |
| Archuleta School District 50 Jt. | Archuletta |
| Arriba-Flagler School District | Kit Carson |
| Brush Public Schools | Morgan |
| Buffalo School District | Logan |
| CIVA School Community Coalition | El Paso |
| Caprock Academy | Mesa |
| Cesar Chavez Academy | Pueblo |
| Colorado Military Academy | El Paso |
| Custer County School District C-1 | Custer |
| Douglas County Schools | Douglas |
| East Central Board of Cooperative Educational Services | Lincoln |
| East Grand School District | Grand |
| East Otero School District | Otero |
| Ellicott School District | El Paso |
| Fort Collins Montessori School | Larimer |
| Frontier Academy | Weld |
| GOAL Academy | Pueblo |
| Garfield County School District #16 | Garfield |
| Global Village Academy | Arapahoe |
| Global Village Academy North | Adams |
| Global Village Academy- Douglas County | Douglas |
| Global Village Charter Collaborative | Adams |
| Golden View Classical Academy | Jefferson |
| Idalia School District RJ-3 | Yuma |
| James Irwin Charter High School | El Paso |
| Juniper Ridge Community School | Mesa |
| Kiowa School District | Elbert |
| Legacy Academy | Elbert |
| Leman Classical School | Douglas |
| Meeker School District | Rio Blanco |
| New Legacy Charter High School | Adams |
| Northstar Academy Charter School | Douglas |
| Norwood School District | San Miguel |
| Otis School District | Washington |
| Ouray School District | Ouray |
| Poudre School District RE-1 | Larimer |
| Ridgeview Classical Schools | Larimer |
| San Juan Board of Cooperative Services | La Plata |
| Steamboat Springs School District | Routt |
| Weld County School District RE-7 | Weld |
| Wildflower Montessori Public Schools of Colorado |
While some of these are small school districts or even individual charter schools, there are also some larger districts on there (including Denver Public Schools, Adams 14 School District, Douglas County Schools, Poudre School District, and Weld County School District). If you work for any of these employers, whether they are an individual charter school, small district, or larger district, reach out to your Human Resources Department ASAP to see if you can get the PERA 457 added. It’s a great additional benefit for employees at no cost to the employer (and takes very little effort), so it’s definitely a win-win and something they should easily say yes to. If you do, let me know the results. I’d love to get this down to the Dirty Dozen (or even fewer).
Fisch Financial 