ONE YEAR OF CREDIT

You may become eligible to take a loan from your member contributions.
Tier 2-6 members: You will be covered by an in-service death benefit. If you die due to an accident sustained while teaching, an accidental death benefit may be payable to your beneficiary instead.

TWO YEARS OF CREDIT

You will be eligible to purchase credit for prior service.

FIVE YEARS OF CREDIT
Your pension will be vested, and you will be eligible for a NYSTRS service retirement benefit at age 55.*
You will be eligible to purchase credit for military service that preceded your NYSTRS date of membership.

10 YEARS OF CREDIT

You may be eligible for a disability retirement benefit if you cannot continue to work because of an illness or injury.
If you leave teaching with at least 10 years of credit and die before retirement, you will be covered by a vested death benefit of 1/2 the in-service death benefit that would have been paid on the last day of NYSTRS service.

20 YEARS OF CREDIT

Tier 1 or 2 members: The pension factor in your benefit calculation no longer includes a service-related reduction.

Tier 3 or 4 members: Your pension factor increases from 1 2/3% per year to 2% per year.
Tier 6 members: Your pension factor increases from 1 2/3% to 1 3/4% per year (i.e., 35% for your first 20 years) plus 2% for each year beyond 20.

25 YEARS OF CREDIT

Tier 5 members: Your pension factor increases from 1 2/3% per year to 2% per year.

30 YEARS OF CREDIT

Tier 2-4 members: You can retire as early as age 55 without an age-related reduction to your pension factor.
Tier 5 members: You can retire as early as age 57 without an age-related reduction to your pension factor.

Members retiring under Tier 4 or 5: You receive an additional 1 1/2% per year toward your pension factor for each year of credit beyond 30 years.

* Although members can generally retire as early as age 55, deferred vested Tier 6 members cannot retire until age 63. Please see our Active Members’ Handbook in the Active Members section of our website at NYSTRS.org for age factors that also might apply.

If you have any additional questions, please call TRS at (800) 348-7298.

EXCESS MAJOR MEDICAL -https://www.portjeff.k12.ny.us/download/PDFs/Business_Office/Benefits/XGMM-Plan1-Description2012.pdf

• Out-of-network coinsurance benefit
• Out-of-network deductible reimbursement
• Annual vision care benefits
• In-hospital private duty nursing
• Out-of-network outpatient rehabilitation
• Nursing home benefit
• In-hospital benefit for employee's only
• AD&D benefit for employee's only

Not sure if you have this coverage: If you're enrolled in the District's vision plan then you're also enrolled in the excess major medical plan (it's a combined vision/emm plan for one premium). However, in order to benefit from the excess major medical plan, you must be enrolled in an open medical plan (i.e. NYSHIP). If you do not have the NYSHIP, you will have to contact your medical plan carrier to find out what type of plan you're enrolled in.

Did you know?

• Part of your Excess Major Medical Plan includes an annual vision benefit - combined with your normal vision plan, you actually have 2 vision plans.
• There is a hospital CASH benefit for covered employees only - this benefit provides a $50 cash benefit per 24-hour period if you are continuously confined to a hospital and under the care of a doctor. Max up to 26 week in a year.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

Teddy Roosevelt asserted that “comparison is the thief of joy.” When we compare ourselves to others, it leads to low self-esteem and unhappiness. Instead, compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Concentrate on healthy improvements, like measuring yourself against specific goals. That way, you're focused on who you are versus who you aren't.

• UPPER formula - use =UPPER(Cell A1) to transform the text in a selected cell to upper case.
• LOWER formula - use =LOWER(Cell A1),to transform the text in a selected cell to lower case.
  

Need to locate our Board Agendas and Minutes: https://go.boarddocs.com/ny/portjeff/Board.nsf/vpublic?open

Bargaining Agreements:

https://www.portjeffschools.org/boe/bargaining_agreements