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House committee advances bill to reopen DROP for classroom teachers, narrows eligibility
Summary
A House committee approved a proposal to reopen the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) only for classroom teachers, with a five-year sunset and a roughly $1.5 million fiscal note; lawmakers pressed for more actuarial detail on potential effects to the state retirement fund.
Representative (sponsor) introduced House Bill 136 to reopen a DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Program) pathway specifically for classroom teachers and the committee approved a final report by voice vote.
The bill sponsor said the measure is intended to reduce the risk of a large wave of retirements after a temporary change in the teacher salary matrix ends. The sponsor told the committee she narrowed eligibility to classroom teachers only, will not accept amendments, and included a five-year sunset in the bill.
The measure defines classroom teachers by schedule rather than role names: committee discussion noted that a teacher with a PowerSchool schedule who is in the classroom for roughly half a day or at least four hours would qualify. The sponsor said the draft is intentionally narrow to limit fiscal impact and target retention of instructional staff.
Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) staff in the hearing said RSA’s current queries cannot reliably distinguish “classroom teachers” from…
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