Educators and labor leaders from 219 local unions across the state are urging members of the Fiscal Year 2026 budget conference committee to include important language regarding educator retirement options in the final version of the FY26 budget.
For decades, the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts and member locals, including the Boston Teachers Union, have helped members navigate their complex benefits systems, including the Massachusetts Teachers Alternative Retirement Plan (or Retirement Plus). Due to an ineffective and confusing roll-out by the state in 2001, thousands of teachers were unfairly shut out of this enhanced retirement system, forcing them to teach for an additional 3 to 5 years to reach their maximum retirement benefit. Unfortunately, this continues to impact thousands of teachers across the state nearly a quarter-century later.
“After years of advocacy, we are energized to see movement to fully address the issues around the original roll-out of Retirement plus, which continue to impact teachers nearly a quarter of a century later,” said AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang. “We urge the Conferees to include the language from the House budget to provide some of our state's longest-serving teachers with the equitable and secure retirement they deserve.”
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