On July 16, Senator O'Connor sent a letter to the Joint Committee on Public Service in avid support of S.1884-An Act relative to teacher retirement election, otherwise known as the Retirement Plus (R+) Bill. This bill will fix an issue from 2001 when teachers were required to fill out a form to join the Retirement Plus (R+) program, which offers crucial retirement benefits. Many teachers missed their chance to enroll due to communication faults and administrative errors. In 2023, a legal decision confirmed that teachers who didn’t submit the form by the 2001 deadline are permanently ineligible for R+, even if they were never properly informed about it. S.1884 would give teachers hired before July 1, 2001, who didn’t formally enroll in R+, the opportunity to join the program. These educators have dedicated decades to serving the Commonwealth's schools and students, and they deserve the benefits they missed out on due to administrative mistakes. Senator O’Connor is urging the Committee members to move this legislation along to ensure fairness and recognize the contributions of these teachers.
