Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Those who are dependent upon the teacher may be better protected than at present, since the form of contribution will set up a contractual relation which may provide definite returns in case of withdrawal or death. Return of contribution in case of resignation is now generally provided for, but return in case of dismissal is provided for only by one-third of our systems, and return in case of death is provided for only by one-fifth. The amount of the accumulation that is returned now varies from onehalf to the whole, and is usually without interest. Contractual arrangements for the return of contributions, also, will facilitate the transfer of the teacher from one system to another, which is desirable. Indeed, pension systems throughout the country would become practically uniform, so that the experience of each would help all. Membership in the systems will need to be, as it usually is at present, required of all new teachers, at least for the minimum protection. For teachers already in service membership may be optional, although this constitutes one of the most difficult of all pension problems-that of properly providing for the retirement of teachers who have not contributed throughout their active service. Probably the best plan is to require the participation of all teachers toward a minimum protection, basing each teacher's contribution on the rate for his age at entering the service, and dividing the additional amount needed between the teachers and the public, so that the oldest teachers shall be helped most.

It remains only to say that the Carnegie Foundation is in the midst of the process of changing its own pension system to the form that has been outlined here and that it will be glad to send its studies of present systems and its new plan to anyone who is interested.

APPENDIX C.

NOTES ON THE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY 35 YEARS' HALF-PAY PENSION LAW.

By A. W. MILBURY,

Secretary Board of Trustees, Teachers' Retirement Fund of New Jersey.

1. Chapter 16, page 33, Laws of 1903, provided for the retirement, on his own application, on half pay, of any teacher who had served for 40 years consecutively in the same district, the pension to be paid by the school district from which the pensioner was retired. The employing board was not given authority to retire a teacher except on his or her application.

2. Chapter 103, page 167, Laws of 1906, provided retirement on half of average annual pay for last five years of service, at expense of the employing or retiring district, of any teacher, principal, or superintendent, on his or her application or by resolution of the employing board, who shall have been employed in New Jersey's public school system not less than 35 years and at least 20 years in the district in which he or she shall be retired. This 1906 act was the first to provide that an employing board might retire a teacher of its own volition, without the application or consent of the teacher. It reduced the entire term of service in New Jersey from 40 to 35 years, made service in the district at least 20, instead of 40 years, and omitted the word "consecutively." 3. Chapter 121, page 286, Laws of 1907, again amended the statute, but only as to the manner in which the district shall provide funds for the payment of the pension. All the foregoing acts provided that the entire period of service (first 40, then 35 years) shall be in New Jersey.

4. Chapter 276, page 588, Laws of 1911, changed this by providing that the not less than 35 years' public school service shall have been performed "in this State or in any other State," provided, he or she "shall have been employed at least 20 years by the district which retires him or her." Payment was to be by the district. The pension amounted to half the average of the last five years' annual salary. Retirement was on the initiative of the teacher or of the employing board.

5. Chapter 58, page 89, Laws of 1912, provided that "any teacher, principal, or superintendent who shall have been employed in the public school work not less than 35 years," etc., shall be entitled to the half-pay pension. This amendment is obscure. The clause, "the public school work," was construed by some boards of education to mean that the entire 35 years must have been in New Jersey, and by others to mean only the "at least 20 years," in the district from which he or she was retired; that is, that 15 of the 35 years' service might have been outside of New Jersey, provided that "at least" 20 years' service had been in the district from which the party was retired on pension. The amount of pension and manner of payment were not changed.

All the foregoing acts, it will be noted, prescribed that at least 20 of the 35 years' service must be in the district from which the teacher was retired on pension, the district paying the pension. This was unfortunate, because many teachers who had taught 35, 40, 50, or even more years in New Jersey, had never taught 20 years in

one district. The law therefore discriminated against these veterans. The original, 1903, act was 40 years consecutively in the same district.

6. Chapter 268, page 557, Laws of 1914, amended the statute so that "after a total period of not less than 35 years of actual service, every teacher, teacher-clerk, principal, and person employed in any supervisory capacity in or under any system of free publiic schools in this State or any other State * * * provided that the last 25 years of such actual service shall have been performed in this State," shall on his or her application or by resolution of his or her employing board be retired on half the average salary of the last five years' employment, the pension to be paid by the State (not by the district. as theretofore) and the administration of the act to be vested in the State department of public instruction. The 1914 act created eligibility to pension under several other conditions, but these were intended to cover certain specific cases; they do not affect materially the main proposition, and are specified in the tabulation.

The transference of the "at least" 20 years' experience from a single district to the State at large made the law far more equitable than before, because it protects all the veteran teachers of the State, not only those fortunate ones who have been employed "at least 20 years" in the district from which they were retired. Further, by transferring the payment of the pension from the district to the State, the antagonism of small and poor country districts was largely removed, and the tenure of teachers was made more secure, as the temptation of districts to "get rid" of a teacher to avoid paying a pension was removed, at least to a considerable degree.

Experience indicates, however, that the State 35 years' half-pay pension act could have been more effectively safeguarded. Some boards of education are taking advantage of the power granted by the words "or by resolution of the employing board" to retire efficient teachers who have complied with the time-service provision, even though such teachers do not wish to retire and protest against it. It is not necessary to discuss the motives of boards in such cases. Those who are acquainted with school administration and human nature will understand how spite, personal grievance, the fact that a relative or friend wishes the position, etc., may enter in. This not only works injury to the individual, but it works injury to the educational system; it is unjust to the taxpayers who bear the double burden of pension and of salary for the new incumbent, and it is dangerous to the pension plan, because it is likely to create so heavy a pension tax that the system will collapse by its ow.. weight. A disability provision should have been added to the 35 years' clause, and perhaps an age limit without disability.

OF

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]

ADDITIONAL COPIES

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
AT

5 CENTS PER COPY

« AnteriorContinuar »