Synopsis of

The 1941 or Council Bill on
Retirement of School Employees

The retirement campaign has produced three bills: a mother bill
and two daughter bills. We are dealing now with the second daughter
bill. It can best be explained by comparison with its two predecessors.
Many of our readers have already studied them. Like human relatives,
these related bills greatly resemble each other, yet there are also notable
differences in detail. The basic purposes and the most vital features
are the same in all three bills. The differences are detail adjustments
made to meet stubborn facts, and, so far as possible, to recognize the
inevitable variety of opinions.

It Is the 1941 Bill Now!

The final adjournment of the Legislative Council on November 16,
1940, put an end to the period of weighing and adjusting. The Legisla-
tive Council and the official representatives of the State Teachers Asso-
ciation have definitely agreed upon this 1941 bill. The chance for action
on retirement now depends, first of all, upon the teachers throughout
the state sinking any remaining differences of opinion (like Americans
after a presidential election) and uniting in support of the 1941 bill.

Common Features of the 1939, 1943, and 1941 Bills

All three retirement bills have outstanding purposes in common:
(1) To provide retirement benefits to all public school employees: teach-
ers, principals, superintendents, county superintendents, school nurses,
clerical workers and janitors. All school employees are guaranteed re-
tirement on the same terms without evasion or discrimination. (2) To
provide retirement for career teachers who are unemployed when the
act goes into effect, and to those who happen to be unemployed hereafter
at retirement age 65, and to provide retirement for these on the same
service annuity terms as apply to the fortunate teachers who happen
to have employment in school service on those dates. The retirement
rights of the low salaried group in the rural and small town schools are
not to be cancelled by the Kansas practice of dismissing rural teachers
before age 65. :

In all three bills the above purposes are achieved and benefits to
individuals are kept in due proportion largely through the use of two
main devices:

1. The principle of the deferred annuity is applied for the protec-
tion of the unemployed teacher. This annuity starts at age 65 whether
the teacher with considerable years of service is employed or not. Thus
teachers with records of twenty or more years who are now out of
service will receive annuities.