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Teachers Urge Law Letting Parenting Teachers Buy Back Service Time
Summary
A large group of public-school teachers and supporters told the Joint Committee on Public Service that House 2769 and Senate 1921 would correct an inequity that penalizes teachers — disproportionately women — who went part time to raise children by allowing them to buy up to five years of retirement credit.
Teachers, school administrators and legislators told the Joint Committee on Public Service that a bill to allow parenting teachers to buy back part-time years would correct a long-standing gender inequity in the Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System.
Rebecca Mahoney, a teacher at Concord-Carlisle High School, told the committee that House 2769 and Senate 1921 would allow teachers with at least 20 years of service to purchase up to five years of creditable service for periods they worked part time while raising children. “We will be retiring five years behind our husbands,” Mahoney said, describing the practical effect on teachers who stepped down from full time to care for children and later returned to full time work.
Bee LaPrette, a colleague, described how policy changes between 1990 and 2010 produced unequal crediting: some exclusively part-time teachers received full-year credit while teachers who moved between full- and part-time status were prorated. “In schools around the commonwealth, there were teachers working the exact same part time schedule and receiving unequal creditable service time,” LaPrette said.
Representative Simon Cataldo, Representative John (first name not specified at hearing), and Senator Vilas spoke in support of the concept, saying the proposal is intended to promote fairness and to help retain teachers. Cataldo and supporters said the buyback would be available only to teachers who have the funds to purchase credit, and they described legislative work to limit costs and design controls.
Several teachers described personal financial consequences: Annie Murphy said she was misled into low-performing 403(b) products and urged passage of a separate bill on plan administrator disclosures; Ellen Moore said that part-time years prevented her from reaching Retirement Plus thresholds and thus reduced lifetime benefits. Leslie Skance Hodgson recounted three childbirths and unpaid leave that cost her creditable service, and Dora Golding said childcare availability and scheduling forced the family decision for her to go part time.
Testifiers said the change would both address an equity issue — often called the “mom tax” in testimony — and aid recruitment and retention by allowing parents to choose part time work without long-term retirement penalties. Supporters asked the committee to report the bills favorably; no committee vote occurred during the hearing.
