A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to enable retired school guidance counselors, media specialists, and psychologists to return to employment with the public schools without losing retirement benefits.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 135‑3(8)c. 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 during the 12‑month period immediately following the effective date of retirement or 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., who has been retired at least six months and has not been employed in any capacity, except as a substitute teacher or other substitute employee, with a public school for at least six months immediately preceding the effective date of reemployment, shall not include earnings while the beneficiary is employed to teach on a substitute, interim, or permanent basis in a public school. The Department of Public Instruction shall certify to the Retirement System that a beneficiary is employed  by a local school administrative unit under the provisions of this sub‑subdivision and as a retired  professional educator 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) reads as rewritten:
"(5a)	"Retired  professional educator" means a beneficiary of the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System of North Carolina  who:
a.	Was previously employed as a (i) teacher, (ii) school guidance counselor, (iii) school media specialist, or (iv) school psychologist,
b.	 Has been retired at least six months, 
c.	 Has not been employed in any capacity, other than as a substitute  teacher or other substitute employee, with a local board of education for at least six months, immediately preceding the effective date of reemployment,
d.	 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, and
e.	 Who is employed as provided in G.S. 135‑3(8)c.
A retired  professional educator who is a teacher as defined in subdivision (6) of this subsection shall be treated the same as a probationary teacher except that (i) a retired  professional educator is not eligible for career status and (ii) the performance of a retired  professional educator who had attained career status prior to retirement shall be evaluated in accordance with a local board of education's policies and procedures applicable to career teachers."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 115C‑316(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	A local board of education may pay a retired  professional educator, 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.  Subsection (d) of Section 28.24 of S.L. 1998‑212, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126 and by Section 31.18A of S.L. 2004‑124, reads as rewritten:
"(d)	This section becomes effective January 1, 1999, and expires June 30,  2006."
SECTION 5.  The introductory language of Section 67 of S.L. 1998‑217, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126 and by Section 31.18A of S.L. 2004‑124, reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 67. Effective January 1, 1999, through June 30, 2006, G.S. 135‑3(8)c., as rewritten by Section 28.24(a) of S.L. 1998‑212 reads as rewritten:".
SECTION 6.  Subsection (b) of Section 67.1 of S.L. 1998‑217, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126 and by Section 31.18A of S.L. 2004‑124, reads as rewritten:
"(b)	This section becomes effective January 1, 1999, and expires June 30,  2006."
SECTION 7.  Subsection (c) of Section 32.25 of S.L. 2001‑424, as rewritten by Section 28.10 of S.L. 2002‑126 and by Section 31.18A of S.L. 2004‑124, reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 32.25.(c) This section becomes effective July 1, 2001, and expires June 30,  2006."
SECTION 8.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each local school administrative unit shall pay to the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System a Reemployed Teacher Contribution Rate of eleven and seventy‑hundredths percent (11.70%) as a percentage of covered salaries that the retired professional educators, who are exempt from the earnings cap, are being paid. Each local school administrative unit shall report monthly to the Retirement Systems Division on payments made pursuant to this subsection.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any portion of the payment made by a local school administrative unit to a reemployed professional educator who is exempt from the earnings cap, consisting of salary plus the Reemployed Teacher Contribution Rate, that exceeds the State‑supported salary level for that position, shall be paid from local funds.
SECTION 9.  This act becomes effective June 30, 2005.