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Bill

HB 106

Revive High-Need Retired Teachers Program.

2025-2026 Session Introduced by Cynthia Ball and 35 co-sponsors

Reenacts and broadens the high-need retired teacher program, letting TSERS retirees return to high-need schools under 1-year contracts without losing their retirement benefits.

Reptd Fav Com Sub 2
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Bill Summary · HB 106

Summary — HB 106: “Revive High‑Need Retired Teachers Program”

Status: Reptd Fav Com Sub 2 (committee substitute #2 reported favorably)
Introduced: February 13, 2025 (multiple committee actions through April 2025)

Purpose

HB 106 reenacts and updates the statutory program (G.S. 115C‑302.4) that permits certain retired members of the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS) to return to the classroom in designated high‑need schools without losing their retirement benefit. The bill restores the expired authority and expands and clarifies eligibility, compensation, pension treatment, and administrative requirements.

Key provisions

  • Reenacts G.S. 115C‑302.4 (the “high‑need retired teacher” statute) as it existed prior to expiration and, in later committee substitutes, expands eligibility dates (the drafts show versions covering retirees through Feb. 1, 2019, and a later draft extending to May 1, 2025).
  • Defines:
    • “High‑need retired teacher” — a TSERS beneficiary who retired (meeting established age/service thresholds) and is reemployed under an annual contract to provide classroom instruction exclusively at a designated high‑need school or schools.
    • “High‑need school” — a school that is Title I or receives an overall D or F school performance grade.
  • Compensation rules:
    • Default pay: first step of the teacher salary schedule.
    • Exception: teachers in specified STEM or special‑education licensure areas are paid at the sixth step.
    • High‑need retired teachers are not eligible for State salary supplements or state bonuses, but local salary supplements provided by the hiring local board of education are allowed.
    • Contracts are limited to a maximum term of one school year.
  • Pension and reemployment treatment:
    • Amends G.S. 135‑3 to provide that earnings while employed as a high‑need retired teacher are excluded from the post‑retirement earnings computation described in the referenced subdivision, and reemployment under this program does not restore the retiree to active service status or suspend the retirement allowance.
    • Shortens the post‑retirement waiting period for this category from six months to two months in the related statute language (G.S. 135‑3(d) as applied to high‑need retired teachers).
    • Employers must report monthly reemployment data to the Retirement System within 90 days of each month’s end.
  • Administrative tasks:
    • The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) will certify when a beneficiary is employed as a high‑need retired teacher.
    • The State Superintendent will identify and provide local units with the list of qualifying STEM and special‑education licensure areas.

Who is affected

  • Primary: eligible retired TSERS beneficiaries who wish to return to classroom teaching in qualifying high‑need schools.
  • Local school administrative units and local boards of education (hiring responsibility, salary payments, reporting requirements).
  • TSERS and DPI (administrative certification, reporting, and pension accounting).
  • Local budgets (if districts choose to pay local supplements or hire retirees).

Fiscal and policy impacts

  • The bill does not include an explicit appropriation. Potential fiscal effects include:
    • Local personnel costs for salary and any local supplements for rehired retirees (subject to local decisions).
    • Administrative workload for DPI and TSERS to certify employments and process monthly reports; potential actuarial/pension reporting effects from exclusion of these earnings in post‑retirement calculations (policy designed to avoid suspension or reduction of retirement benefits).
  • The net state fiscal exposure is likely limited because the statute preserves retirees’ pension payments while excluding the rehired earnings from certain pension computations; nonetheless administrative implementation costs could be incurred.

Procedural notes / next steps

  • HB 106 was introduced Feb. 13, 2025 and proceeded through committee consideration. A committee substitute (#2) was reported favorably (Reptd Fav Com Sub 2) in mid‑April 2025 and the bill was re‑referred to Pensions & Retirement and Appropriations in the legislative process. Further floor or committee action (and final enactment) would determine the bill’s final form and effective date.

If you want, I can:
- Extract the exact statutory text changes side‑by‑side with current law; or
- Produce a short explainer for district HR directors on implementing the program (certification and reporting steps).

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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