Q: Under our contract, there is a retirement incentive that allows eligible members to retire on their birthdays. What happens to the calculation of final average salary when a teacher's final year of teaching is a partial year? Is that year excluded from the calculation?

A: We know that many members believe that a partial year is discarded, but that is not the case. If a member retires during a school year, the three-year FAS crosses over different school and salary years. For example, if your birthday were in November and you retired that month, your FAS would go back three Novembers and obviously cross different salary levels. It might be confusing for the member to calculate, but the TRS can do it.

Q: I am a teacher in Tier 3 who is 55 years old and will have 25 years and one month of total service at the end of this school year. I will have been teaching in a summer school program in the school district for the past 10 years. The program is a four-week session, three hours a day. What is the Teachers Retirement System practice of crediting summer school?

A: Under New York state law, members may only earn one year of retirement credit in a school year (July 1 to June 30). The only members who gain service credit for summer school teaching are those who teach less than full time from September to June.

Q: I plan on retiring soon. Do I qualify for the "refund" of the 3 percent overpayments? I started full time in November of 1981 and joined the ERS at that time. I also just finished buying back my three years of military time. I am over 55 and plan on retiring with a 30-year pension. If I do qualify for the 3 percent "refund," how do I go about getting the credit? I am sure I made retirement contributions for 18 or so years.

A: There is no state law regarding any "refund" for paying 3 percent in excess of 10 years. What you are referencing is a bill in the NYSUT Legislative Program that we hope will one day become law. Please be advised that once you retire, you are not eligible for such in-service benefit improvements. Retirement improvements for in-service status is prospective (i.e., must be in-service at the time of passage into statute), not retroactive (i.e., for those no longer in-service).

Q: Please help me with two questions.

1. Does my New York City teaching count toward the 10-year end of making contributions?
2. I am a full-time teacher who adjuncts at a local community college. Is there any advantage to making contributions to NYSTRS from that pay?

A: 1. Yes, but only if you have transferred the service from the New York City TRS to the New York State TRS. If you have not already done so, we suggest you contact TRS at 800-348-7298, ext. 6040, as soon as possible.

2. Yes! The salary you earn as an adjunct (and pay the 3 percent until you have reached 10 years of membership in the TRS, including any transferred NYC time), increases the in-service death benefit for your beneficiary. And, if you are still teaching as an adjunct when you near retirement, that extra salary increases your final average salary, and hence your pension.