HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2443        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2609

 

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act Relative to  Teacher Creditable Service..

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Subsection (1) of section 4 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after paragraph (h ½ ) the following paragraph:-

(h ¾ ) Any member in service of the teachers retirement system or a teacher who is a member of the State-Boston retirement system and who is or was employed as a teacher in a public school may receive creditable service for any period or periods of prior work experience in the occupational field in which the member is now teaching and which was required as a condition of the member’s employment and licensure under regulations of the department of education.  No credit shall be allowed until the member has paid into the Annuity Savings Fund of the system before any retirement allowance becomes effective for the member, in 1 sum, or in installment, upon the terms and conditions that the board prescribes, makeup payments of an amount equal to 10 per cent of the regular annual compensation of the member as of the member’s most recent date of entry into membership in the teachers’ retirement system or as a teacher in the State-Boston retirement system, for each year of service purchased plus buyback interest thereon.  No credit shall be allowed and no payment shall be accepted under this paragraph until the member has completed 10 or more years of membership service.  The creditable service allowable under this paragraph for any members shall not exceed 3 years.  Members in service of a retirement system who make application for this creditable service shall be notified by the retirement board of their eligibility for such creditable service, and, if they are eligible, shall also be notified by the retirement board that they have the following options:  (1) to purchase the service in a lump sum within 180 days of the notice, or (2) to enter into an installment agreement within 180 days of the notice to pay for service.