"The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System (ATRS) has been providing retirement benefits to Arkansas's public school and education employees. ATRS pursues excellence in managing the pension fund and strives to deliver exemplary service to its members and stakeholders. ATRS is a defined benefit plan for public school and other public education employees. It is administered as a ""qualified"" retirement plan under the provisions of IRS § 401(a). The state statutes contain the benefit provisions for our members at Arkansas Code §§ 24-7-201 et. seq., which are supplemented by ATRS Rules and Regulations."