(Photo: Shutterstock)

It's not enough that they're going on strike for raises and moreteaching staff, or that they spend their own money on supplies fortheir students. Teachers might be taken to the cleaners by theirretirement plans, too, leaving them short of funds when it's timeto leave the schoolroom.

The Wall Street Journal reports that some school district retirementplan administrators could be getting cozy with the providers ofthose plans, resulting in investments that come with higher feesthat eat away at teachers' savings as the years pass.

According to the report, the Securities and Exchange Commissionis investigating that very possibility, having "requestedinformation from companies marketing retirement-income products toteachers and from those providing administrative services."

And the SEC isn't the only one, the report adds, writing, "NewYork state's Department of Financial Services is investigating a dozen life insurers todetermine whether they or their agents are selling teacherspotentially high-cost and inappropriate investments."

Edible perks such as donuts and pizza often accompanyadministrator visits in some districts, says the report, quotingKeith Reed, a fifth-grade teacher in Joshua Tree, California, whosays of administrator representatives, "They always bring food. Itmakes you feel as if you are in a relaxed atmosphere and that theyare looking out for you."

But the truth, he has concluded, is different. After a workshoprun by the California Teachers' Association union in 2013, he sayshe was shocked at the level of fees charged by his plan andswitched investments that came with a 2 percent fee to some thatcost 1/10 as much. In the report, he adds, "The adviser in thelunchroom is there to make a buck."

Not only did many of the investments come at a considerablyhigher cost than others, Reed said in the report, but investmentadvisors would often defray administrative fees in exchange foropportunities to pitch investments to the teachers.

It might be surprising, particularly after the huge (and stillongoing) debate over the fiduciary standard, to learn thatteachers—served by 403(b) plans, not 401(k)s, and often populatedby annuities as investments—don't get the benefit of an obligationon the part of plan administrators to put them first.

And assuming that their school districts do so is making amistake. And as a result, investments in 403(b) plans come withconsiderably higher costs than those in 401(k)s—and thereforereduce investment gains for account holders.

Says the report, "Annuity buyers can pay as much as 3 percent ofinvested assets in fees each year. In contrast, fees on 401(k)accounts average less than 1 percent annually, according toBrightScope Inc., a firm that tracks retirement-plan data. For$100,000 invested for 25 years at 6 percent, an extra 2 percentagepoints in fees would cut 38 percent from the final accountvalue."

So how widespread is the problem? Third-party administratorsbeing paid by investment providers are common enough in theteaching community that in California alone, more than 200 schooldistricts have the same third-party administrator—which does notcharge the districts for its work but, says the report, "is paid bythe companies approved by school districts to provide investmentsto workers."