CalSTRS members do not contribute to Social Security (although members hired on or after April
1, 1986, and many members hired before that date contribute
toward Medicare). As a result, the retirement benefits you receive
from your school employment are provided entirely by CalSTRS.
Nonetheless, there are two important issues concerning Social
Security of which CalSTRS members need to be aware. First, discussions
in Washington D.C. about efforts to reform the Social Security
system to provide long-term fiscal stability to that program
have included mandating that all state and local public employees
hired in the future, including public school teachers, participate
in Social Security. Second, although CalSTRS members do not
receive Social Security benefits by virtue of their public school
employment, many receive such benefits from other employment,
or by being married to others who were employed in jobs covered
by Social Security. A a result of federal law, the Social Security
benefits that a CalSTRS member receives is often reduced because
the member is receiving a retirement benefit from CalSTRS.
CalSTRS analysis of the impact of mandating participation
in Social Security indicates that mandating participation
in Social Security would have a serious impact on the finances
of local school districts and/or the compensation, either
now or in retirement, of CalSTRS members.
More information on this issue is available by clicking on
Mandatory Social Security. Click
here to read a letter
sent to the House Ways and Means Committee May 26, 2005, regarding
the proposal to mandate Social Security coverage for new state
and local government workers.
For more information on the impact of CalSTRS benefits on
Social Security benefits, click How
A CalSTRS Benefit Affects Social Security Benefits.
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