ANNAPOLIS — Maryland’s teacher pension system, labeled one of the worst in the nation by union activists before the state legislature passed a $120 million enhancement plan this year, has not hampered recruitment and retention efforts, according to a report issued this week by a conservative-leaning think tank.

‘‘Increased state spending on defined benefit pension plans like Maryland’s is unlikely to be a cost-efficient way to staff classrooms with qualified teachers,” wrote Michael Podgursky, an economics professor at the University of Missouri who wrote the study jointly released by the Maryland Public Policy Institute in Germantown and the Abell Foundation in Baltimore.

The report challenges the argument of education advocates that Maryland’s pension system was among the nation’s worst, thus hindering teacher recruitment and retention.

That claim disregards several factors, it said.

Maryland teachers are in the federal Social Security system, while those in other nearby states are not. When that is factored into individual pension plans, total retirement benefits for Maryland teachers rank considerably higher, according to the study.

Christopher B. Summers, president of MPPI, said the state teachers union intentionally concealed that fact to strengthen their argument for pension reform.

‘‘Maryland’s system provided more income up-front,” he said.

The Social Security inclusion was addressed in one of the first meetings of the Joint Committee on Pensions and was never a secret, said David E. Helfman, executive director of the Maryland State Teachers Association.

He called the report ‘‘sloppy” and ‘‘untimely.” Podgursky ‘‘sits back from a distance and takes shots” at the union without including all the data, Helfman said.

There are several reasons why Maryland has a hard time recruiting and retaining teachers. One is the high cost of living; the other is that Maryland produces only one-quarter of the annual demand for teachers in-state, while states such as Pennsylvania train far more, said Helfman, who previously worked in Pennsylvania.

The pension enhancement’s impact on teacher recruitment and retention will become clear once the first analysis is performed in 2008, he said.

Lawmakers approved a $120 million pension enhancement plan earlier this year after a fierce lobbying effort from teachers and state employees, who receive the same retirement benefits. MSTA initially sought a package that was projected to cost nearly $500 million.

For years, the teacher contribution rate of 2 percent was smaller than those in neighboring states, which allowed more take-home income, the Podgursky report said. This year’s legislation will bump the contribution rate to 5 percent over three years. Maryland’s cost-of-living adjustment is also more generous than in other states, Summers maintained.

One Montgomery County legislator who taught for 30 years before retiring said he has no regrets in boosting the pension system.

‘‘In spite of what they say, I think it will help attract teachers to Maryland,” said Del. Charles E. Barkley (D-Dist. 39) of Germantown, noting that he will not personally benefit from the enhanced program.

Many teachers retire before they begin collecting the Social Security benefits, leaving a gap where retirees must rely solely on their retirement income or find other work, said Barkley, who also questioned the long-term stability of the Social Security system.

Union officials said the study’s finding is not credible given the source.

‘‘This is not a huge surprise coming from an organization [that] has traditionally been opposed to any kinds of equitable funding for education ... and funding for education means funding for the personnel in education,” said Bonnie Cullison, president of the Montgomery County Education Association.

But Summers disputed that, saying his group conducted the study ‘‘because no one was challenging the facts that the unions were putting out.”

Maryland can make itself more attractive to prospective teachers by providing an alternate pension system that will ‘‘travel” with educators as they relocate. The current system restricts teacher mobility between states or pension plans and penalizes those who leave the profession early for family reasons, wrote Podgursky, an education labor policy expert.

The case for better retirement benefits comes down to being more competitive in the job marketplace, Cullison said.

‘‘Education is not something you can do on the cheap and in order to get the best people ... you have to pay for it,” she said. ‘‘If I go to a doctor, I go to the one that I think is going to do the best work for me and I’m willing to pay for it.”

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