HBA-MSH C.S.H.B. 3570 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3570 By: George Pensions & Investments 4/20/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, certain retired teachers are allowed to continue to collect retirement benefits if they return to teaching in areas of acute teacher shortage. The provision allows understaffed schools to hire experienced teachers at a competitive salary. Beginning teachers in understaffed schools can also benefit from the experience of retired teachers who serve as mentors. C.S.H.B. 3570 allows retired teachers to continue to collect retirement benefits while serving as mentors for classroom teachers. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 3570 amends the Government Code to prohibit the Employees Retirement System of Texas from withholding a monthly benefit payment if a retiree is employed in a Texas public educational institution in a position as a mentor for a classroom teacher on as much as a full-time basis if the retiree has retired without reduction for retirement at an early age, is a certified teacher, and has been separated from service with all public schools for at least 12 months. The bill provides that a mentor must have taught in a public school for at least 10 years and have demonstrated specified abilities. The bill prohibits the use of any information collected in the mentoring process from being used to evaluate the teacher or to determine whether to dismiss the teacher. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 3570 differs from the original by providing that a mentoring teacher must meet certain requirements and prohibits the information collected in the mentoring process from being used to evaluate the teacher or determine whether to dismiss the teacher.