TEACHERS; RETIREMENT AND PENSION SYSTEMS; EMPLOYMENT (GENERAL);

TEACHERS - RETIREMENT;

You asked for a summary of changes in the teacher retirement law that would affect a retired English teacher currently receiving benefits from the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) who has been offered employment for a full school year as an English teacher in another school district starting in September 2003.

SUMMARY

In 2003, the General Assembly made several changes in the law concerning reemployment of teachers, including allowing retired teachers to earn more while simultaneously receiving monthly TRS benefits when they are reemployed in public schools. The new law allows a retired English teacher reemployed in another system to earn more for such work than he formerly could but, like the prior law, continues to limit the amount he can earn during the year if he wants to continue receiving benefits while reemployed. The limit effectively restricts retirees to working less than a full school year. Although the new law exempts certain retired teachers from the earnings limit for up to two years, the exemption applies only to those reemployed in shortage areas identified by the education commissioner. English is not one of the currently identified shortage areas.

The retired teacher reemployment changes are included in PA 03-262, §1. They took effect July 1, 2003.

EARNINGS LIMITS FOR REEMPLOYED RETIRED TEACHERS

PA 03-232 allows a retired teacher receiving TRS benefits to earn more from temporary (less than a full school year) teaching in a Connecticut public school without jeopardizing his monthly TRS benefit. Under prior law, the earnings limit was 45% of the entry-level salary for a teacher assigned to the same subject area. The act increases the limit to 45% of the position maximum.

Thus, the new law would allow a retiree to be reemployed as an English teacher in another public school, but, as was the case under prior law, his TRS benefits would be suspended on the first day of the month in which his earnings exceeded the limit and resume on the first of the month following termination of his reemployment.

REEMPLOYMENT FOR A FULL SCHOOL YEAR OR MORE

Prior law allowed a local board of education to reemploy a retired teacher for a full school year if the Teachers’ Retirement Board (TRB) authorized it after the local board certified that reemployment was in the school system’s best interests. In such a case, the retiree’s TRS benefits were suspended once he exceeded the 45% earnings limit, as already described, regardless of the subject he taught.

PA 03-232 makes an exception to restrictions on full-year reemployment by allowing a retiree to teach for a full year in a subject shortage area education commissioner designates, earn more than the 45% limit, and continue to receive his monthly TRS benefit at the same time. But a retiree teaching English is not eligible for the exception for the 2003-04 school year because the education commissioner has not designated English as a subject shortage area.

For the 2003-04 school year, subject shortage areas are:

• Music, PreK-12

• Bilingual education, PreK-12

• Special education, 1-12

• Mathematics, 7-12

• Technology education, PreK-12

• Spanish, 7-12

• Remedial reading and language arts, 1-12

• Speech and language pathologist

• School psychologist

The shortage area reemployment may be extended for a second year, with prior approval from the TRB. (The act is ambiguous about whether TRB approval is also required for the initial year of reemployment. ) To obtain approval, the employing board of education must submit a written request to TRB that includes the retired teacher’s assignment, its anticipated duration, and the teacher’s expected rehire date. The act eliminates the requirement that the local board certify that a retiree’s reemployment is in the school system’s best interest.

HEALTH INSURANCE FOR REEMPLOYED TEACHERS

Once TRB approves the retired teacher’s reemployment in a shortage area, the local board must offer him the same health insurance benefits the school system provides its active teachers. As long as the teacher works for the system, PA 03-232 bars him from receiving benefits under the state health plans for retired teachers or state-subsidized benefits under the health plan maintained by his last employing board of education.

REEMPLOYMENT OPTION ELIMINATED

PA 03-232 eliminates an option for a long-term reemployed teacher to (1) resume making contributions to TRS after six months’ continuous reemployment; (2) contribute 6% of his salary to TRS, rather than 7% as for other TRS members, during his reemployment; and (3) upon subsequent retirement, receive an additional annuity equal to three times the amount of the benefit derived from his reemployment contributions, plus interest. It grandfathers reemployed teachers who were already making contributions under this option as of June 30, 2003, allowing them to continue to do so until they retire again.

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