House Bill Allows Retired Teachers to Teach and Receive Pension

A House bill designed to encourage retired teachers to return to the classroom has one Mississippi lawmaker calling for careful scrutiny of the proposal. MPB's Desare Frazier reports.

The Mississippi Great Teachers Act of 2019 would allow retired teachers to receive their pensions and work in the classroom full-time. Lawmakers say its one of the incentives they've come up with to address the state's teacher shortage. House Republican Richard Bennett of Long Beach chairs the Education Committee.

"Teachers that are qualified that have been there for years, some of our best teachers are retiring and they're going to private schools to teach. We need to get them in our public schools, keep them in our public schools," said Bennett.

House Democrat Gregory Holloway of Hazlehurst is on the education Committee and supports the bill. But he's concerned about the effect on the state's public employee retirement system known as PERS. He says the agency's board already announced it's increasing the amount employers pay into the system from 15.7 percent to 17.4 percent monthly to shore up the fund. That change begins July 1, of this year.

Read more: http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/2019/02/04/house-bill-allows-retired-teachers-to-teach-and-receive-pension/