Soldiers Lose Benefits if They Go Into Teaching

I am retired military, and I continued working in a second career as a teacher. I retired from the State Teaching Retirement System (STRS). I believe that all should pass the competency tests in order to teach. As far as ex military personnel going into teaching they should remember that they will eventually collect their Social Security benefits since they paid into this system while in the military. However, in teaching they are not under Social Security and upon retirement from teaching and when applying for Social Security they will have their Social Security benefit reduced. This unfair practice is or was before Congress in the form of S 206 since 2007. Help is needed to get these bills in congress passed. For this Social Security offset see SSA's Publication # 05-10045.

This is unfair. We agree that soldiers need to pass the competency tests in order to teach, and we agree that their benefits should not be reduced for doing so. That is sometime worthy of change. If soldiers choose teaching and go through the steps to prepare themselves for this career, their benefits should not be touched. Once our soldiers earn something it is unfair to take it away later. This provision applies to any government agency position since these offer pension programs. The title of the provision is interesting. It is called the ‘windfall elimination provision.’ There is no windfall to be had when moving from military service to service in the classroom.