State and local pensions show improved funded status.

• Position: News & Numbers

The funded status of public pensions has increased from 72 percent in 2013 to 74 percent in 2014, according to The Funding of State and Local Pensions: 2014-2018, a new issue brief from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence. Two reasons are cited for the improvements:

* Positive stock market performance for the last five years allows the low returns of 2009 to be replaced with a positive year in plans that smooth their market gains and losses over five years.

* More state and local governments paid the required annual contribution --88 percent in 2014, compared to 82 percent in 2013.

The authors project that plans will be more than 80 percent funded by 2018 if the portfolio achieves its assumed rate of return, currently averaging 7.6...