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H 8170Uncategorized

Education - Teachers' Retirement

Extends the deadline allowing retired teachers to work up to 180 days per year to address staffing shortages until 2027.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
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Introduced Feb 27, 2026Committee House Finance

Plain-English Summary

This legislation addresses teacher shortages in Rhode Island by extending an existing program that allows retired educators to return to work. Typically, retired teachers are limited to working 90 days a year to maintain their pension status. This bill allows them to work up to 180 days in a school year if a school district has a specialized need and cannot find a non-retired candidate. The bill extends the expiration date of this allowance from 2026 to August 1, 2027.

For younger readers

Sometimes schools have a hard time finding enough teachers for their classrooms. This bill helps fix that problem by letting retired teachers come back to work for more days than they usually are allowed. Normally, a retired teacher can only work for about three months a year. This bill says that if a school really needs help and can't find anyone else, a retired teacher can work for about six months instead. This rule was going to end soon, but this bill extends it so schools can use it until the summer of 2027.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Retired TeachersPublic School StudentsSchool AdministratorsTeachers' UnionsParents
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Ensures that public school students in understaffed districts continue to receive instruction from qualified, experienced educators rather than untrained long-term substitutes.
  • Maintains labor protections by requiring school districts to prove they made a good-faith effort to hire non-retired employees before offering positions to retirees, protecting union jobs.
  • Supports the stability of the public education system by addressing critical staffing shortages that disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities and high-need schools.
  • Acts as a temporary "band-aid" solution to the teacher shortage crisis without addressing the root causes such as low pay, burnout, and poor working conditions that drive teachers away.
  • Could potentially disincentivize districts from aggressively recruiting and hiring a new, more diverse generation of full-time teachers if they rely on the convenience of returning retirees.
  • Allows older individuals to occupy positions that might otherwise go to younger workers entering the workforce, potentially stalling career opportunities for new graduates.
For Conservatives
  • Provides a cost-effective solution for school districts to fill vacancies, as returning retirees typically do not require expensive health insurance packages or new benefit accruals.
  • Empowers local education authorities (LEAs) with the flexibility to manage their own staffing needs and keep schools operational without heavy-handed state mandates.
  • Utilizes an experienced workforce ready to work immediately, ensuring that taxpayer-funded schools remain open and functional during labor shortages.
  • Facilitates "double-dipping" by allowing government employees to collect a taxpayer-funded pension while simultaneously drawing a taxpayer-funded salary for the same work.
  • Perpetuates a temporary government program that was supposed to expire, illustrating the tendency of government interventions to become permanent fixtures.
  • Props up the existing public school system and union structure rather than forcing systemic changes or encouraging market-based alternatives to address staffing failures.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 8 additions · 9 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 16-16-24.3 of the General Laws in Chapter 16-16 entitled "Teachers’ Retirement [See Title 16 Chapter 97 — The Rhode Island Board of Education Act]" is hereby amended to read as follows: 16-16-24.3. Substitute teaching and post-retirement teachers. [Expires June 26, 2026]

(a) Notwithstanding any public or general law, or rule or regulation to the contrary, and except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, any teacher, administrator, or staff member who has retired under the provisions of this title (“education”) may exceed the ninety-day (90) cap on post-retirement employment and work up to one hundred eighty (180) days during a school year upon:

(1) A determination by the local education authority (“LEA”) that there exists a specialized need, within the authority, to fill positions on a temporary basis, that may require the LEA to employ retired teachers and exceed the ninety-day (90) cap on post-retirement employment;

(2) Retired teacher, administrators, or staff members being asked to exceed the ninety-day

(90) cap on post-retirement employment possess the skills, training, and knowledge necessary to help address teacher staffing shortages; and

(3) The local education authority has notified the state retirement board that it has determined that exceeding the ninety-day (90) cap on post-retirement employment is necessary to help address teacher and administrative staffing shortages. Provided, however:

(i) No no employment may be offered to a retiree subject to this section unless the employer has made a good-faith effort each school year to fill the position with a nonretired employee without success, and certifies, in writing, that it has done so to the employees’ retirement system and to the bargaining agents of all education unions with whom the employer has collective bargaining agreements;

(ii) The LEA provides in its notice to the state retirement board and the bargaining agents the total number of certified teacher positions within the LEA, including the number of teacher positions filled and the number of teacher positions the LEA is seeking to fill; and

(iii) The total number of retired teachers an LEA may hire under the provisions of this section may not exceed five percent (5%) of the total number of certified teacher positions reported to the state retirement board by the LEA pursuant to subsection (a)(3)(ii) of this section.

(b) Any teacher, administrator or staff member who has retired under the provisions of this title, and has been employed or re-employed under the provisions of this section, shall not be entitled to additional service credits for such employment, and the teacher member shall not be responsible for any contribution to the pension system as a result of the employment; provided, however, the local educational authority shall make the employer contribution for the teacher member as if the district had hired a new teacher member.

(c) A teacher retired under the provisions of this title shall be subject to a ninety-day (90) cap on post-retirement employment during the period of one year after the date of that teacher’s retirement. Thereafter, that teacher shall be eligible to exceed the ninety-day (90) cap on post- retirement employment as provided in subsection (a) of this section. (d)(c)The provisions of this section shall apply retroactively to June 20, 2025, and shall sunset one year from enactment or on August 1, 2026 2027, whichever shall occur first.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.