Nicollet Public Schools science teacher Emmelyn King is only five years into her career, but she’s already looking ahead at what she would need to achieve to retire.
“Right now the penalties are so severe and that just needs to change for us to move forward at all,” she said.
“Just looking ahead knowing that you have so far to go is, it’s a big hill to climb. To know that there’s maybe a better path forward is why I’m here.”
King was among dozens of teachers from southern Minnesota and statewide to rally at the Minnesota State Capitol on Thursday in support of better pension benefits, an issue that stems from a key difference between two retirement categories.
Teachers who were hired before July 1, 1989 are known as tier one teachers and abide by what is called the Rule of 90. They become eligible for unreduced retirement benefits when their age and years of service equal or exceed the sum of 90.
Current teachers could have their benefits penalized if they retire before age 65; they are tier two.
According to Education Minnesota, teachers who started in 1988, for example, would lose 0% of their pension benefit to penalties as early as age 56 if they started at age 22.
However, those who started teaching in the fall of 1989 who wanted to retire at age 56 would lose 61% of their benefits to penalties that year. At age 60, they would lose 42%.
Advocates are pushing for lawmakers to pass legislation to lower the retirement age and reduce penalties for retiring early.
Nicollet Public Schools second grade teacher Tom Murphy, a tier two teacher who is turning 57 this summer, initially wanted to retire between now and age 60.
He said on Thursday that improved benefits would give him a better idea of where he’s going.
“If this rally could get us to be able to retire … around 60-years-old with no penalties is great. The reality is, if we could do something to improve it, I unfortunately don’t believe it’ll ever get improved enough for me, but hopefully it can get improved enough for others,” he said.
And Nicollet Public Schools first grade teacher Katy Meister said that those who taught during the pandemic could especially be thinking about retirement.
“The COVID years, those were extremely hard on teachers, and we didn’t really have a whole lot of help navigating that. There’s a lot of mental stress, trying to keep up with the students,” she said.
“Those of us who taught through that, that took some years off.”
Mankato Teachers’ Association President Linda Howe-Wensel said teacher retirement has become a priority over the last couple of years as they’ve started to look at the data of why people were leaving the field.
“People started as a teacher. They retired as a teacher,” she said.
“All the sudden we have this big change. People were starting as teachers, five to eight years in they were leaving the field and wanting to do something else. Why? I think that really started to drive the conversation.”
Whether or not lawmakers could consider a pension bill this year was up in the air until Minnesota Management and Budget released the February economic forecast Thursday morning.
However, local lawmakers such as DFL Sen. Nick Frentz, of North Mankato, are calling the numbers good news for teachers.
According to the forecast, the 2024-25 biennium is now projected to end with a surplus of $3.715 billion, an increase of $1.324 billion compared to November projections.
“The forecast will have a positive impact on the amount of money that might be allocated to pensions. In my opinion, no question it will have a positive impact on the chances of a successful pension bill that’ll help teachers,” Frentz told The Free Press after speaking at the rally.
But Minnesota School Boards Association Executive Director Kirk Schneidawind said the bill could still face obstacles if teachers want a long-term solution.
“Any fix in a pension system has to be ongoing. You can’t use one-time money and solve that solution. You’ve got to have a longer play in that,” he said.
Republican Sen. Rich Draheim, of Madison Lake, said in an emailed statement to The Free Press that more flexibility for teachers in their later service years seems like a reasonable goal.
“I want teachers to have a quality pension and ensure the fund remains solvent for all future teachers. Teachers have a really important, really difficult job,” the statement read in part.
“As long as we can do it in a way that is fair to everyone. I am not on the pension commission, but I am interested in learning more about how we can move in that direction.”