Case Information
*1 Mrs. B. B. Sapp
Diractor and Exaoutive Sacreta'ry
Teacher Retirament System or Texas
Auatin, Texas Opinion Wo. V-06 : :‘,
Dear Mrs. Sapp:
We are in reoeipt your'raqnest r0r our opin- ion on the hereinabove oaptioned matter, and we quote rr0m, your latter as miow8:.
"We have Borne teachers in Texas who'have beon holding eligible positions since the inception of the Retirement System. They did not know their peaitioa war eligible until reoent data.
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*I aa now confronted with the question, if a person was holding fan eligible position in 1937-3g and did not realize that it,waa eligible, and now t,bs eligibility ia being made k:nown to such employee, aould such maployee be given the right of signing a waiver aueh aa orrered employees in the first 90 daya of the 1937-36 sahool term, or must they comply with House Bill 6027 If the answer is that employ- ees must conform to the regulations as prescribed in House Bill 602, would employees who are just now ba- ing informed that they hold eligible positions have to make their payments, or deposits, retroactive to 31, 1943, or could they begin now making deposits and have the status of a beginning teacher? \ :.
"The employees in question were holding eligible -positions in 1937-38 but have not been inrowed until
recently of the eligibility or their positions."
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Mrs. B. B. Sapp, Page.2 Subdivisibn (11, Section 3, Artiole 2922-1, reads as r0iiow6 :
"All persons who are teachers on the date as of which the Retirement System is established shall become members as of that date as a condition of their employment unless within a period of ninety (90) days after Septamber 1, 1937, any such teacher ! . shall file with the State Board of Trustees on a form prescribed by snoh Board, a notice'of his el- ectionnot to be,covered inthe membership of the Systemand a, duly executed waiver of all present and prospective benef'its which would otherwise in- .ure tohim onaccount of his partioipat.ion, in the .'Retirement Syat,em.:"
Paragraphs', Section 8, Article 2922-1, V.A. C.S., (Paragraph ,(c), Sec. 8, H. ,B. 602, Acts of the, Reg- ular Session, 47th Leg., 1943),.readsas follows:
"Any member of the Teacher Retirement System rrom whose sala,ry prior tom August 31, 1943, a deduc- tion or deductions have not been made, but which should have been made, in accordance with the pro-: visions of this Aot,.mag elect to pay such sums that should have been deducted, on such terms as are determined by the State Board of Trustees, and thus ,receive the credit for prior service and membership service to which the member may be en- titled for teaohing under the proviaiou of this Act prior to August31, 1943, or not to pay such sums and thus aaquire the status of a beginnina teacher as of September 1, 1943, or ii s&fd member, fanot teachirv at that'time. ~aCot.the date when the member res&es teaohing under theAct. Pro- vided, the provisions of this Act shall-anpfinly to deductions which should have been made Promsal - aries of teachers prior to :, and to -, PO other time,: (Irpkarlr added)
We call your attention to the fact that in ac- cordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1, Section 3, Article 2292-1, supra, that teachers electing not.to be- come members of the Retirement Srstem rust have signed' proper waivers "within a p~eriod ol 90 days after Septem- ber 1, 1937.'~ From reading ydur request, woe assume that the teachers inquired about have never executed wJ,vers and that they have held eligible positions in the Teaah- er Retirement Systamsiaca September, 1937'. tl' .-:' *3 Pm. B. B. Sapp, Page 3 .:
0 In dOmid8rind your inquiry, it beaomes neceb- sary that we look to the provisions of H. B. 602, aupra, reading of this portion ~of the statite'you can see that the teachers may eleot to,pay all delinquent payments from September, 1937, or they may elect not to pay any delinquent sum to the Teacher Retirement System prior to August 31, 1943, and thus acquire the status of a be- ginning teacher as of September 1, 1943, and make their delinquent deposits from ,that date to the present time.
In other words, an eleotion given to a member com- ing within the terms of Paragraph (c) to become a teach- er either a$ of the effeotive date of the Aot as of September 1, L943. The proviso clause of said paragraph shows clearly that ,such a teacher could not become a "be- ginning teacher" after September 1, 1943.
In view of the foregoing, it is our opinion that the teachers who have been holding eligible positions since the inception of the Retirement System (September, 1937) must conform to the regulations prescribed in Par- agraph (c), Section 8, H. B. 602, supra, and it is our further opinion that said teachers may make their delin- quent payments retroactive to September, 1937. or they may elect to make their delinquent oayments retroactive to September 1, 1943, amit ,in nojevent can said teachers, under the assumea faota, make depoeits now and occupy the status of bleginning teachers as or a time later than September 1, 1943.
SUMMARY (1) Teachers who have held eligible posi- tions in the Teacher Retirement System since its inception may mke their delinquent payments from September 1, 1937, to date and become beginning teachers aa of September 1, 1937, or
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Ym. B. B. Sapp - Pas* 4
(2) They may elect $0 make their delinquent payment8 retroactive to September 1, 1943, and be- come ,beginning teachers a8 of that date.
(3) In no event aan said teachers oooupy the ‘i. stetue of beginning teaahera as oi a time later
than September 1, 1943, Paragraph (a), Section 8, ., Artiole 2933-l,, V.A.C.~S. truly yorrr
V-Y cIsl4EBIL OF TEXAS AlTOm (p c*J3--4J? ’ BY a. C. Davis, Jr. Aseistin$ t ~_ JAR.,
APPRO- AWOE&t?EY KENE)?AL ’ I ~,
JCD:~jrb
Approved Opinion Committee
By BWB
chainuan