By Amelia Arvesen
KU Statehouse Wire Service
TOPEKA — Elk County teachers expressed concern in a hearing Tuesday for legislation that would change the benefits for retirees who want to return to work for a Kansas Public Employees Retirement System affiliated employer.
A key component of Senate Bill 299 would put pension benefits into an interest-bearing account during re-employment to be paid only upon termination. The bill would affect state and local government employees and public school teachers, but special education teachers would be exempt.
KPERS covers 150,000 active members, representing about 1,400 state and local employers, according to the membership guide.
Jason Crawford, superintendent for Elk Valley Schools in Longton, said the provision would make it even more difficult to employ teachers in the small school in a rural area.
Crawford said 60 percent of the staff would be directly impacted by the change to the current working-after-retirement exemption. June Kramer, a science teacher and library media specialist at Elk Valley High School, said the school is the largest employer in town.
“We rely heavily on the teachers that we already have on staff that are working after retirement,” Kramer said.
Tom Krebs of the Kansas Association of School Boards, said he wants to know whether the plan is enough to entice teachers and other educators to take hard-to-fill positions like math, science and foreign language.
Teachers would be just one group affected by the bill. The bill would also place a yearly earning limit at $20,000 for state, local and school non-licensed employees who return to the same employer. There would be no limit for school-licensed employees who return to the same employer. In addition, there would be no limit for state, local, school non-licensed or licensed employees who return to work for a different employer.
Upon reaching the income limit, the retiree can either stop working and continue his or her KPERS benefit or continue to work and have benefits suspended for the remainder of the year.
Ed Klumpp, a legislative law enforcement liaison, said although some police officers can no longer meet the physical demands of the job, their expertise is still valuable.
The second part of SB 299 extends the sunset for provisions to licensed teachers to July 1, 2016. Under current law, the provisions expire this July; which is why Chairman Jeff King (R-Independence) said the committee must make a decision this year.
“I don’t think an acceptable solution is just to allow the sunset to occur,” King said. “I think we need to take some policy action.”
The bill will be re-evaluated when the legislature reconvenes in late April.
Amelia Arvesen is a University of Kansas senior from San Ramon, Calif. majoring in journalism.