HB 873: Education, Department of; employ beneficiaries of Teachers Retirement System of Georgia; allow

Under current Georgia law, a retired teacher (a beneficiary of the Teachers Retirement System) who returns to work generally must choose between stopping their retirement allowance and rejoining the system, or having their pension suspended while they work. House Bill 873 creates a new exception to that rule. The bill adds a new Code section allowing the Department of Education specifically to employ a retired teacher while that person keeps receiving their monthly retirement allowance and any cost-of-living adjustments, without suspending benefits. In exchange, the time worked under this arrangement would not count as creditable service, so it could not be used later to increase the person's pension. The exception does not apply to beneficiaries who work directly for a school run by the Department of Education, only to employment by the department itself. The change would only take effect July 1, 2026, and only if state actuaries confirm it is funded under Georgia's Public Retirement Systems Standards Law; otherwise the bill automatically repeals itself that same date.

• Creates a new exception (O.C.G.A. § 47-3-127.2) letting the Department of Education employ Teachers Retirement System beneficiaries who keep drawing their pensions.
• Allows those employees to continue receiving their retirement allowance and postretirement benefit adjustments while working for the department.
• Bars this employment from counting as creditable service, so it cannot be used to recompute or increase retirement benefits later.
• Excludes beneficiaries who work at any school operated by the Department of Education from this exception.
• Makes the arrangement not part of any employment contract and subject to change by future legislation.
• Ties the entire Act's effective date to funding certification under the Public Retirement Systems Standards Law, with automatic repeal on July 1, 2026 if funding is not confirmed.

Retired Georgia teachers who receive pensions through the Teachers Retirement System, the Department of Education as a potential employer, and indirectly the retirement system itself, which must certify the funding impact of allowing this new hiring arrangement.

Retired teachers could take on department-level work without losing their pension income, giving the Department of Education a pool of experienced staff to draw on. But because the work would not count toward more retirement credit, and the law only takes effect if funding checks out, its practical impact depends on that certification.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 47-3-127(a) to note the new exception for beneficiaries covered by the Department of Education arrangement.
• Section 2 adds O.C.G.A. § 47-3-127.2, allowing the Department of Education to employ a beneficiary who keeps receiving retirement benefits.
• Section 2 specifies the employment does not count as creditable service and does not entitle the beneficiary to a benefits recomputation.
• Section 2 excludes beneficiaries employed at schools operated by the Department of Education from this exception.
• Section 2 states the arrangement is not part of an employment contract and remains subject to future legislative change.
• Section 3 sets a July 1, 2026 effective date conditioned on funding certification under the Public Retirement Systems Standards Law (Chapter 20 of Title 47), with automatic repeal if that condition fails.

1. 2025-03-31House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-03-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-03-27House Hopper (House)

• Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)Primary sponsor

• teacher retirement
• Teachers Retirement System of Georgia
• Department of Education staffing
• public pensions