Veteran retirement advisor says educators—not insurance companies—are paying the price as BCPS moves to a single provider.
By Doni Glover
For nearly half a century, Milton A. Dugger Jr. has helped Baltimore City Public Schools employees prepare for retirement.
Today, after 53 years with New York Life and 47 years as one of the school system’s approved 403(b) retirement providers, Dugger says the issue is no longer about insurance companies.
It’s about employee choice.
“How can you force an employee to drop a carrier with whom he or she has an established relationship?” Dugger asked.
That question sits at the center of Baltimore City Public Schools’ sweeping overhaul of its supplemental retirement program.
Beginning this summer, BCPS consolidated its 403(b) and 457(b) retirement programs under a single provider, Corebridge Financial. Employees may keep the retirement assets already accumulated with their existing carriers, but future payroll contributions must now flow through the new system. The district has said the change follows an extensive competitive review designed to simplify administration, reduce costs, and provide employees with lower fees and expanded investment options.
For Dugger, however, the decision represents something much larger.
“This ain’t about New York Life,” he said during an interview with BMORENews. “This is about people being screwed and don’t even know they’re being screwed.”
A Relationship That Spanned Nearly Five Decades
Dugger’s history with Baltimore City educators stretches back to the early years of the modern 403(b) program.
In 1974, he appeared before the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners seeking approval for New York Life to become an authorized retirement provider for school employees. Although the Board unanimously approved the request, payroll implementation did not occur until 1979 after years of administrative delays.
The first 100 Baltimore City educators enrolled through New York Life that October.
Since then, Dugger says, New York Life has maintained the same company name, the same office, and the same commitment to serving Baltimore educators.
That continuity, he says, is what makes the current transition especially difficult.
A Career Built on Relationships
Unlike many financial advisors who frequently change firms or territories, Dugger says he has spent his entire professional career serving the same community.
According to him, approximately 1,000 Baltimore City educators have retirement relationships with New York Life representing roughly $38 million in accumulated assets.
Those accounts remain intact.
What has changed, he says, is employees’ ability to continue making new payroll contributions to the carrier they originally selected.
He argues that retirement planning is built on trust developed over decades—not simply on investment products.
“I am the catalyst,” Dugger said, describing his role in encouraging educators to begin saving for retirement, often one paycheck at a time.
He points to one longtime client who contributed approximately $90,000 over the course of a career and whose retirement account has grown to roughly $300,000.
“I ask anybody to prove to me that we have charged exorbitant fees,” Dugger said. “This man would have done nothing if I had not approached him and acted as the catalyst to get him to look up for himself in the future.”
The Other Side of the Story
The district’s decision did not occur in a vacuum.
A December 2024 investigation by The Baltimore Banner examined retirement fees charged by some 403(b) providers serving Maryland educators. The report described cases in which teachers paid thousands of dollars in fees over many years without fully understanding the costs associated with their retirement plans. The reporting also noted that Baltimore City Public Schools and the Baltimore Teachers Union were pursuing a new supplemental retirement recordkeeping system intended to simplify retirement administration and improve employee outcomes.
Notably, New York Life was not among the companies identified in that reporting.
BCPS has said the new retirement structure is intended to provide employees with greater financial clarity, lower costs, and improved retirement security.
Dugger does not dispute the goal of helping employees retire with more money.
He questions whether eliminating employee choice was necessary to achieve it.
“No One Would Listen”
Dugger says he repeatedly attempted to raise concerns before the new system was implemented.
Emails reviewed by BMORENews show that he contacted Baltimore City Public Schools officials, members of the administration, and city leaders months before the transition, warning that employees were unaware of the coming changes and asking that his concerns be considered.
He says those efforts never resulted in a substantive discussion.
Instead, the transition proceeded.
The consolidation affected not only New York Life but multiple longtime retirement providers that had served Baltimore City educators for decades.
More Than Business
What makes Dugger’s perspective noteworthy is that his connection to Baltimore City Public Schools extends well beyond his profession.
His family’s history with the school system spans four generations.
His grandmother, Geneva Flint Clark, began teaching in Baltimore’s segregated public schools in 1904.
Thirty years later, his mother, Constance Clark Dugger, joined the system.
Dugger entered Baltimore City Public Schools in 1964, followed by his brother, longtime educator Charlie Dugger. A fourth generation of the family would later serve the district as well.
That history explains why he views the current dispute as more than a business matter.
For him, it is about educators he has known for decades and the relationships he believes they should have the freedom to maintain.
“They should have the right to choose,” he said.
Whether Baltimore City Public Schools’ new retirement structure ultimately delivers the lower costs and stronger retirement outcomes envisioned by district leaders will be judged over time.
For Milton Dugger, however, the central question remains unchanged.
When an employee has spent decades building a retirement plan with a trusted advisor, should that employee lose the right to continue contributing to that relationship?
That is the question he says Baltimore City’s educators deserve to answer for themselves.
