The funded status of state employee and teacher pension plans is the lowest since Edward T. Burton III first joined the Virginia Retirement System board of trustees in 1994 – and he’s not happy about it. Burton, an economics professor at the University of Virginia and a VRS trustee for 18 of the past 20 years, ripped state lawmakers Thursday for failing to fully fund state employee and teacher pensions, and chided his fellow trustees for not sounding the alarm.