PART-TIME TEACHING PROGRAM

Interested in downshifting into retirement?

TRA’s Part-Time Teacher Program assists members transitioning into retirement by allowing them to go from full-time to part-time employment.

Under the program, participating members continue to make regular TRA contributions based on their earned part-time salary and are eligible to make additional contributions based on the difference between their part-time and full-time equivalent contract salaries. This helps preserve the member’s High-5 average salary. If you are interested in participating, you must satisfy certain requirements in order to be eligible for participation.

Please note: For program certifications in the 2020-2021 school year, only members who were employed full-time during the school year prior to initial participation in the program will be eligible to participate. If you work in a K-12 public school, you must meet these criteria:

You have at least three years of allowable service.
You worked full-time the school year prior to initial participation.
Your earned part-time salary must be at least 30 percent, but not more than 80 percent, of the compensation established by the school board for a full-time teacher with identical education and experience at that school.
You are not a superintendent.

Your participation in the program is based on a full fiscal year and your employment pattern during the most recent fiscal year. If you retire or terminate employment before the end of the fiscal year, your participation in the program will be cancelled.

If you work in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, you must meet these criteria:

You have at least three years of allowable service.
You worked full-time the school year prior to initial participation.
If you participate for the full school year, your earned part-time salary must be at least 30 percent, but not more than 80 percent, of the compensation established by the Minnesota State board for a full-time teacher with identical education and experience at that school.
If you only participate for the first semester and retire immediately afterwards, your earned part-time salary must be at least 15 percent, but not more than 40 percent, of the compensation established by the board for a full-time teacher with identical education and experience at that school.
You are not a chancellor, deputy chancellor, or vice-chancellor.

For both K-12 public school and Minnesota State members, you must establish an agreement with your employer on your participation prior to Oct. 1 of the school year in which you will be participating. This agreement must be renewed and submitted to TRA by Oct. 1 each school year you wish to participate. Eligible members may participate for a total of 10 years.

Once TRA receives the agreement and confirms your eligibility, you are responsible for paying all member contributions, which includes the contributions on both the earned part-time salary and the purchasable salary amount for the difference between your part-time and full-time equivalent contract salaries. You are also responsible for paying the employer share of the of the purchasable salary amount, unless your employer has agreed to pay the additional contributions.

If your employer does not agree to pay the additional employer contributions, you are responsible for paying those amounts. Those additional amounts can be paid through payroll or TRA can bill you directly.

Your participation in the program will be cancelled and any additional contributions will be refunded if:

You are earning service with another Minnesota public pension fund for the same period of time, other than members who are serving as legislators or volunteer firefighters.
You are employed by two school districts and earning service from both positions for the same period of time.

Questions? Contact your human resources office for information about enrollment in the program. For other questions, call us at 651.296.2409 or 800.657.3669.