MEA VOICE At Issue
Legislators, Granholm change retirement benefits, school calendars
In addition to Public Act 106, the Legislature and Granholm agreed to changes to school employees’ retirement benefits and to school calendars.
Here’s a summary of the other changes included in the deal:
Public Acts 110 and 111:
These laws affect school employees hired after June 30, 2008. Workers hired after June 30, 2008, will earn insurance benefits in retirement as they work through their career—put simply, those who work longer will earn more toward health insurance in retirement.
Under a “graded premium” subsidy, the retirement system would pay up to 90 percent of the monthly premium for health care benefits of a retiree and dependents after 30 years of service credit or employment. Currently, the system does not grade premiums based on years of employment for those who retire directly from school employment.
In addition, employees hired after June 30, 2008, will have to pay about 6 percent of their salary into the retirement system, about 2 percent more than current employees pay.
The law also made changes to service Legislators, Granholm change retirement benefits, school calendars credit purchases for new employees. New employees cannot purchase service credit for the first two years of employment, and purchased service credit cannot be used to qualify for health insurance in retirement.
Public Act 101:
This law allows intermediate school districts to set common dates for the winter holiday and spring breaks. The breaks in your negotiated school calendar cannot change until your current contract expires.
The law encourages coordination of professional development days, too, but it does not require common professional development.
The legislation specifically grants exceptions for trimesters and year-round programs. In addition, it allows for a waiver from the state superintendent of public instruction for other circumstances.
While your school board must ensure that your local school calendar in future contracts complies with the identified breaks in the intermediate school district calendar, the remainder of your calendar remains subject to collective bargaining.