BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 482
79R5816 SGA-D By: Shapiro
AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Each year, approximately 22,000 new teachers enter Texas classrooms and are in need of mentors with experience and expertise in the field of teaching. When a current classroom teacher serves as a mentor, availability is difficult to achieve during the school day. That mentorship causes the mentor to spend time outside his or her classroom and away from the students he or she is teaching. Each year, 37,000 teachers retire from the profession and are qualified to serve as mentors. However, current law prevents retirees from being employed as full-time school district employees without losing their retirement benefits.
Retirees can serve as part-time mentors without jeopardizing their retirement benefits, but this causes school districts to juggle their schedules in order to meet that requirement and not fully serve beginning teachers. As proposed, S.B. 482 allows a retiree to be employed by a school district full-time, without the loss of benefits, as long as the retiree's primary responsibilities are those of a mentor to other teachers.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 824.602(a), Local Government Code, to prohibit the Teacher Retirement System, under Section 824.601(Loss of Monthly Benefits), from withholding a monthly benefit payment if the retiree is employed in a Texas public educational institution in a position in which the primary responsibility is as a mentor of other teachers, if the retiree meets certain qualifications.
SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective to the 2005-2006 school year.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2005.