Back to the classroom: retired teachers eligible to teach again

LANSING — According to a bill that was signed today, retired teachers in the state can now return to the classroom without losing their retirement income and health benefits.

House bill 4059 allows retired teachers to come back to work if they are teaching in what the state is calling, ‘a critical shortage area.’ Retired teachers can now return to the classroom for up to three years according language in the legislation.

NICE Superintendent Bryan DeAugustine calls the legislation a “win, win for everyone”.

“Retired teachers make perfect substitute teachers because they’re experienced and veteran educators,” said DeAugustine. “They come in and do a nice job for us.”

“Here at NICE Community Schools, we’ve been lucky,” he added. “We’ve always had a very robust pool of applicants, but you never know going into the future as college numbers dwindle or less people go into the teaching profession, it’s a nice buffer for us to have just in case the situation ever arises we can turn to some of our retirees to come back and help us.”

This legislation will be in effect until August 1st, 2018. To view the bill yourself, click HERE.