15-39.2 Teacher Retirement Options

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CHAPTER 15-39.2TEACHER RETIREMENT OPTIONS15-39.2-01.Retired teachers - Election of coverage - Eligibility - Limitation.Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 15-39.1, any person who retired from teaching under<br>the teachers' insurance and retirement fund prior to July 1, 1971, who had ten or more years of<br>teaching credit under that program is entitled to elect to qualify for benefits under the teachers'<br>fund for retirement by complying with the provisions of this chapter. A college teacher who<br>retired from teaching after July 1, 1971, may, notwithstanding the provisions of section<br>15-39.1-25, elect to receive benefits in accordance with chapter 15-39.1 and section 15-39.2-05.<br>The amount of monthly benefits to which an annuitant electing to come under the 1971 law is<br>entitled until death is equal to one and one-half percent of the monthly salary of the annuitant for<br>the last school year for each year of service of that annuitant. Monthly salary within the meaning<br>of this provision is deemed to be an amount equal to one-twelfth of the annual salary of the<br>teacher. If for any reason the earnings of the teacher for the last year of teaching are shown to<br>have been nonrepresentative of the teacher's typical earnings, the board shall readjust the credit<br>to be allowed for past years of service to the last year of typical earnings. As used in this section,<br>&quot;college teacher&quot; means a retired teacher who is entitled to receive an annuity through the<br>teachers' insurance and annuity association of America - college retirement equities fund<br>(TIAA-CREF) as a result of having participated in the North Dakota state board of higher<br>education TIAA-CREF retirement plan for North Dakota state institutions of higher education.15-39.2-01.1. Retired teachers - Minimum benefits. Any teacher who was sixty-fiveyears of age at retirement and who is eligible to receive or who is receiving benefits under former<br>chapter 15-39 may receive benefits which are not less than:1.Six dollars per month per year of teaching to twenty-five years.2.Seven dollars and fifty cents per month per year of teaching over twenty-five years.Teachers, superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, assistant principals,special teachers, supervisors of instruction and other supervisors, presidents, deans, school<br>librarians, and registrars employed by any state institution under the supervision and control of<br>the state board of higher education and any person employed in teaching as lay faculty in a<br>nonpublic school are not eligible for the minimum benefits provided by this section. As used in<br>this section, the term &quot;lay faculty&quot; means any person who teaches elementary or high school<br>students in a nonpublic school, and is neither a member of an ecclesiastical order or religious<br>house, nor an ordained member of the clergy.A teacher who retired at any time prior to sixty-five years of age is entitled to benefits notless than the minimum benefits established by this section reduced to the actuarial equivalent of<br>the benefit credits earned to the date of early retirement.15-39.2-01.2. College teachers - Military service credit purchase. College teacherswho elected to remain under the provisions of chapter 15-39 may purchase military service as<br>credit in the fund as allowed under the provisions of section 15-39.1-24.15-39.2-02. Optional increase in benefits - Alternatives. Any person entitled to makethe election provided for in section 15-39.2-01 must be permitted, in the alternative, to accept a<br>twenty percent increase in the person's current annuity or, if the person has at least seventeen<br>years of teaching credit under the teachers' insurance and retirement fund, to accept a minimum<br>monthly annuity of one hundred dollars plus five dollars per month for each additional year of<br>teaching credit up to a maximum of twenty-five years. Nothing in this chapter may be interpreted<br>to permit any person to elect benefits under more than one of the options offered in this chapter<br>or to draw benefits concurrently under more than one retirement program.Page No. 115-39.2-03. Limitation on elections on retirement programs. Nothing in this chaptermay be interpreted to permit any person to elect benefits under more than one of the options<br>offered in this chapter, nor to permit any person to make more than one such election.15-39.2-04. Beneficiaries of certain deceased teachers - Election - Contribution tofund. The beneficiary of a deceased teacher may make an election pursuant to the provisions of<br>this chapter; provided, that the beneficiary may not elect the second option provided under<br>section 15-39.2-02, which option relates to teachers who have at least seventeen years of<br>teaching credit under the teachers' insurance and retirement fund.The annuity of suchbeneficiary must be computed in the manner in which the deceased teacher's annuity would<br>have been computed if the deceased teacher had lived and had made such election. For the<br>purposes of this section, the term &quot;beneficiary&quot; has the same meaning as such term has in<br>section 15-39.1-17 concerning persons entitled to a monthly annuity under the provisions of<br>chapter 15-39.1, and the term &quot;deceased teacher&quot; means a teacher, deceased at the time<br>application for an election is made, who died or retired from teaching under the teachers'<br>insurance and retirement fund prior to July 1, 1971.Provided, however, that in order to beeligible to make such election, a beneficiary shall pay into the teachers' fund for retirement such<br>amounts as the deceased teacher would have been required to pay had that teacher made the<br>election prior to death.15-39.2-04.1. Beneficiaries of deceased college teachers. If a college teacher who iseligible to make the election provided by this chapter dies prior to receiving an annuity, the<br>college teacher's designated beneficiary may elect to receive a monthly annuity computed<br>according to the provisions of this chapter in a manner which the deceased teacher's annuity<br>would have been computed if the deceased teacher had lived, made such an election, and<br>selected option one as outlined in section 15-39.1-16. The designated beneficiary of a college<br>teacher who exercised the election in section 15-10-17 is not eligible for benefits provided in this<br>section.15-39.2-05. Benefits payable - Calculation. A retired teacher who makes the electionauthorized under section 15-39.2-01 shall receive from the teachers' fund for retirement a benefit<br>amount equal to the difference between the benefit payable under the single life annuity option to<br>which that teacher would otherwise be entitled under the teachers' fund for retirement and an<br>income offset. The income offset is equal to the single life annuity income, as of the first day of<br>the month coinciding with or next following a teacher's retirement date under the teachers' fund<br>for retirement based on accumulations attributed to employee and employer contributions under<br>the TIAA-CREF retirement plan adopted by the state board of higher education for North Dakota<br>institutions of higher education and assuming that all such contributions were paid to TIAA.A retired teacher who made the election authorized under section 15-39.2-01 prior to May1, 1979, shall have a TIAA-CREF income offset which will be fixed at the value of the May 1,<br>1979, TIAA-CREF income offset as calculated in accordance with this section prior to its being<br>amended.No payment may be made from the teachers' fund for retirement to a retired teacheraffected by this section unless the board of trustees of the teachers' fund for retirement, or its<br>agent, has received notice of the amount of the teacher's income offset from TIAA-CREF.15-39.2-06. College teachers - Election - Contribution to fund. In lieu of the electionprovided for by section 15-39.2-01, a college teacher may elect prior to July 1, 1980,<br>notwithstanding the provisions of section 15-39.1-25, to receive benefits in accordance with<br>chapter 15-39.1 and section 15-39.2-08. A teacher who elects to receive such benefits shall pay<br>into the teachers' fund for retirement, in the manner provided for by section 15-39.2-07, the<br>difference between the amount actually paid to the fund by the teacher during the period from<br>July 1, 1969, to such time as the teacher exercises the election authorized by this section, and<br>the amount which would have been required had the teacher's assessment rate remained the<br>same as that of a public schoolteacher during that period. The amount must be determined by<br>the board of trustees of the teachers' fund for retirement.Page No. 215-39.2-07. Assessments - Method of payment. A college teacher making the electionprovided for in section 15-39.2-06 shall make the payment of the required assessments for the<br>period prior to the election by a single sum payment in the manner provided for by the board of<br>trustees of the teachers' fund for retirement. Payment of the required assessments for the period<br>after the election must be made in the manner provided for in section 15-39.1-09.15-39.2-08. Benefits. Any college teacher making the election provided for in section15-39.2-06 and paying the assessments provided for in section 15-39.2-07 is eligible for the<br>same benefits as a public schoolteacher with like average salary and years of service would<br>receive under section 15-39.1-10.Page No. 3Document Outlinechapter 15-39.2 teacher retirement options