GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
S	1
SENATE BILL 933
     

 
Short Title:	Simplify Reemployment of Teachers/Principals.	()	
Sponsors:	Senators Harris, Lee, Carpenter, Dalton, Dannelly, Foxx, Garrou, Garwood, Hartsell, Lucas, Martin of Guilford, Moore, Purcell, Wellons;  Berger, Bingham, Carter, Clodfelter, Cunningham, Hagan, Jordan, Kinnaird, Metcalf, Plyler, Rand, Robinson, Soles, Swindell, Thomas, Warren, and Weinstein.	
Referred to:	Education/Higher Education.	
April 5, 2001

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to enable retired teachers and principals to return to the public schools the next year without losing retirement benefits.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 135‑3(8)c., as rewritten by Section 28.24(a) of S.L. 1998‑212, Section 67 of S.L. 1998‑217, and Section 8.24(a) of S.L. 2000‑67, reads as rewritten:
"c.	Should a beneficiary who retired on an early or service retirement allowance under this Chapter be reemployed, or otherwise engaged to perform services, by an employer participating in the Retirement System on a part‑time, temporary, interim, or on a fee‑for‑service basis, whether contractual or otherwise, and if such beneficiary earns an amount in any calendar year which exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the reported compensation, excluding terminal payments, during the 12 months of service preceding the effective date of retirement, or twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), whichever is greater, as hereinafter indexed, then the retirement allowance shall be suspended as of the first day of the month following the month in which the reemployment earnings exceed the amount above, for the balance of the calendar year. The retirement allowance of the beneficiary shall be reinstated as of January 1 of each year following suspension. The amount that may be earned before suspension shall be increased on January 1 of each year by the ratio of the Consumer Price Index to the Index one year earlier, calculated to the nearest tenth of a percent (1/10 of 1%).
		The computation of postretirement earnings of a beneficiary under this sub‑subdivision, G.S 135‑3(8)c., shall not include earnings while the beneficiary is employed as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal on a substitute, interim, or permanent basis in a public school if:
1.	The beneficiary has been retired at least 12 months and has not been employed in any capacity, except as a substitute teacher, principal, or assistant principal with a public school for at least 12 months immediately preceding the effective date of reemployment, retired from a public school and is subsequently reemployed as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal at that public school; or 
2.	The beneficiary retired as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal from a public school during or at the end of one school year and is employed at a different public school as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal for all or part of a subsequent school year.
Each local school administrative unit shall certify to the Retirement System that a beneficiary is employed as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal by that local school administrative unit under the provisions of this sub‑subdivision and as a retired teacher, principal, or assistant principal as the term is defined under the provisions of G.S. 115C‑325(a)(5a).
Beneficiaries employed under this sub‑subdivision are not entitled to any benefits otherwise provided under this Chapter as a result of this period of employment."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑325(a)(5a), as enacted by Section 28.24(c) of S.L. 1998‑212 and rewritten by Section 67.1 of S.L. 1998‑217 and Section 8.24(b) of S.L. 2000‑67, reads as rewritten:
"(5a)	(Effective until June 30, 2003) "Retired teacher, principal, or assistant principal" means a beneficiary of the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System of North Carolina who:
a.	Either:
1.	Was employed as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal;
2.	Has been retired at least 12 months from a public school;
3.	Has not been employed in any capacity, other than as a substitute teacher, principal, or assistant principal with a local board of education for at least 12 months, immediately preceding the effective date of reemployment;
4.	Is determined by a local board of education to have had satisfactory performance during the last year of employment by a local board of education in a public school; and
5.	Is employed as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal in the same public school, as provided in G.S. 135-3(8)c.;
b.	Or:
1.	Retired as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal from a public school during or at the end of one school year;
2.	Is determined by a local board of education to have had satisfactory performance during the last year of employment at a public school; and
3.	Is employed at a different public school as a teacher, principal, or assistant principal for all or part of a subsequent school year as provided in G.S. 135-8(c).
A retired teacher, principal, or assistant principal who is a teacher as defined in subdivision (6) of this subsection, shall be treated the same as a probationary teacher except that a retired teacher is not eligible for career status."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 115C‑316(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	(Expires June 30, 2003) A local board of education may pay a retired teacher, principal, or assistant principal as that term is defined in G.S. 115C‑325(a)(5a) no more than the employee would have received on the appropriate salary schedule, excluding longevity, had the employee not retired."
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2001, and expires July 1, 2003.