ASSEMBLY EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5422

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 11, 2023

The Assembly Education Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No 5422.

     This bill extends P.L.2021, c. 408, which permitted a teacher or a professional staff member providing special services, including a speech language specialist or a therapist, who retired from the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF) to return to work full-time with a board of education in a position of critical need, as determined by the Commissioner of Education, without being reenrolled in the TPAF if reemployment commences during the 2023-2024 school year.

     If the retired teacher or the retired professional staff member returns to work with the former employer, it must occur more than 180 days after the retirement.  This bill will permit the teacher or professional staff member to receive the TPAF retirement allowance as well as a salary.  The bill permits the return to work under a contract for one year, which may be renewed only for one additional year.  The total period of reemployment with any individual board of education is not to exceed a two-year period, unless so approved by the commissioner as being in the best interests of the school district.  Under the bill, the former member’s retirement is required to have been a bona fide retirement and any employment or reemployment under the bill is not to be prearranged before retirement.