The Texas State Teachers Association said the teacher retirement bill approved by the Senate today is significantly improved over previous versions.
“This TRS bill passed today provides a much better balance of contributions from the state and educational employees than previous versions of the bill,” said TSTA President Rita Haecker. “We will keep working to ensure all school employees and retirees are treated fairly in the TRS system.”
Under the version of SB1458 approved by the Senate, over the next two years active employees participating in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas will pay less in contributions than the state. During the two years following that, they will pay less in contributions than the combined contributions of the state and school districts.
The increase in the employee contribution rate will be phased in and set at 6.4 percent in FY2014 and 6.7 percent in FY2015, instead of the 7.7 percent rate that would have taken effect in FY2015 in the previous version of the bill.
The employee contribution rate would increase to 7.2 percent and 7.7 percent in FY2016 and 2017 but could not exceed the combined state and school district contribution.
