In 2001, Massachusetts introduced RetirementPlus, a program that allows teachers to retire a little earlier if they increase the amount they contribute to their pension to 11 percent of their salary. Teachers hired before July 1, 2001, needed to elect to join RetirementPlus when it was enacted through an often-confusing process that led many to believe they were automatically enrolled, only later learning that they were not.

H.4361 would create a fair and clear pathway for teachers hired before July 1, 2001, to have a new opportunity to join RetirementPlus. A recent ruling by the Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA) has made it clear that legislation is needed to fix this problem.

The House of Representative as has passed this language twice so we are asking you to contact your State Senator to ask that they support the Senate's immediate passage of H.4361.

CALL AND EMAIL YOUR STATE SENATOR NOW! Ask them to pass H.4361 now. This bill will give teachers a new opportunity to enroll in RetirementPlus. Find your Senator's phone numbers here.

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H.2769 / S.1921 would create a fair system for long-serving teachers to retire with dignity and economic security.

Educators raising young children (most typically women) often are compelled to reduce their work hours to balance family responsibilities. In doing so they may become ineligible for student loan forgiveness and their pension can be negatively impacted. Under current law, an employee who works less than full-time, but more than half-time, is not credited with a full year of service for the purpose of calculating their pension benefits and there is no opportunity to later purchase this time. For example, a teacher who works half-time for 5 years would accrue 2.5 years of service, resulting in a difficult choice: Retire with a smaller pension or work years beyond the normal retirement age.

This bill would:

• Allow teachers who reduced their work time to meet the demands of child-rearing or family care an opportunity to buy back up to five years of service toward their retirement.
• Address the unfair 2010 rule change, which gave full-time retirement credit to teachers who only worked part-time between 1990 to 2010, but only partial (prorated) retirement credit to teachers who switched between full-time and part-time work during that same period.

To be eligible to purchase service under this bill, a teacher must:

• Be a member of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System or the Boston retirement system.
• Currently working full-time.
• Have accrued at least 20 years of creditable service.
• Worked at least half-time for the school year for which they wish to purchase service.

Join MTA members, parents, students, community activists, and municipal leaders from across the Commonwealth as we take strategic action to win legislative and budgetary fixes to the growing fiscal crisis impacting public schools and colleges across the Commonwealth.

2026 Meetings Include:

• February 9 with legislative remarks from Senator Comerford
• March 16 with legislative remarks from Senator Edwards
• April 13
• May 18

REGISTER NOW

All are welcome!

The Massachusetts House of Representatives and state Senate have each passed bills, H.4683 and S.2940 respectively, that mandate the use of certain literacy curricula in our public schools. Now, a legislative conference committee has been convened to reconcile the differences between the two versions and develop a final, compromise bill. Serving on the conference committee are Rep. Ken Gordon, Rep. Simon Cataldo, Rep. John Marsi, Sen. Sal DiDomenico, Sen. Jason Lewis and Sen. Patrick O’Connor.

The members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association voted overwhelmingly at our Annual Meeting of Delegates to oppose state mandates to use specific literacy curricula, such as those included in H.4683/S.2940, and our deep concern with that provision of both bills remains.

Yet the House and Senate, in different and important ways, each incorporated educators’ feedback into the final versions of the legislation passed by their respective chambers and we need your help in ensuring that the conference committee continues to consider the perspective of public school educators as they develop a final bill.

Specifically, we need you to urge the conference committee to:

• Support provisions in the House bill that focus on investments in reading specialists and other educators who will provide instruction and support to students.
• Support the Senate’s proposed Early Literacy Fund, which is funded at $25 million, to support districts in implementing the curricula mandate and the state in developing its own literacy curriculum to be made freely available to districts.
• Reject language from the House bill that will ban specific instructional practices in our classrooms. As just one example, the House’s language prohibits any “visual memorization of whole words” in a clear reference to so-called “sight words.” If this language, which the Senate did not advance in its bill, is included in the final legislation, educators could violate state law if, among the other enumerated prohibitions, we are considered to be encouraging even just one student to memorize a whole word as a supplemental piece of their overall literacy instruction.

Please email the conference committee right away and urge them to listen to public school educators, the experts on literacy, by addressing our conference committee priorities. Please also call their offices to follow up on your email. Use the phone numbers provided to make your voice heard. 

On February 12 the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) delayed its vote on changes that would shift additional health care costs onto the backs of public employees.

State employees, including MTA members working at public colleges and universities, and many municipal employees receive their insurance through the GIC.  In addition, the GIC sets the “benchmark” that can be implemented by non-GIC municipal employers, meaning this vote could potentially harm all MTA members.

The GIC’s delay was the result of an outcry of frustration and concern about maintaining affordable health insurance. MTA members sent over 15,000 messages to the legislature, governor and GIC. Over eighty legislators have signed a letter that was sent to the governor and the GIC asking them to reject this proposal, and the delayed vote has provided us with the opportunity to resend this letter with additional legislators signed on.

Please send a message to your senator and representative asking them to sign on to this letter, which will be resent before the next GIC meeting. As of this update, no date has been set for the next GIC meeting, but it could take place as soon as the week of February 16, so it is important that you send your message today!

Please note that if your senator or representative has already signed the letter, they will not receive an email. In addition, if you both of your legislators have already signed the letter, you will see a message reading, “Sorry, no recipients were found. Please enter an address to try again.” In that case, no further action is needed on your part, but you are still encouraged to call their offices to thank them for signing on. Use the phone numbers to make your voice heard.