Amidst numerous concerns regarding changes to teachers’ pensions, Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake) and Representative Danny Nadeau (R-Rogers) introduced bipartisan legislation that addresses concerns raised by educators over excessive penalties and provides teachers a benefit that will increase retention. This bill creates an optional pathway for retirement at age 62 with full benefits if they also have 30 years of service. 

“Changes in pension policies made 35 years ago have led to many teachers feeling frustrated and they are leaving the classroom because their retirement benefit seems unattainable and could be heavily penalized,” said Pratt. “Our bill allows a teacher to retire at 62 with 30 years of service without having their pension reduced. This is something we should do to respect teachers like my mom who retired at age 62 because of health reasons after 40 years in the classroom. She should not have been faced with deciding between her health and a pension penalty. We’ve come up with an innovative way to address the problem: we’re giving teachers flexibility, and we’re doing it in a cost-effective way that will not alter the state’s budget. This is a retention issue – if we want to attract the best candidates in the state and keep them in the classroom, we have to get this done.” 

This bill aims to address labor shortages and creates a retention incentive to keep more teachers in the classroom. 

This bill was heard this week in the Pensions Commission and was laid over.