services as members thereof. The board shall meet annually Annual at Lansing, on the first Friday in October, and shall hold meeting. such other meetings as they deem necessary. If a member of Absence from the board be absent from two consecutive meetings without meetings. reasonable excuse for such absence, accepted by the board, his office shall be declared vacant by the board, and such vacancy filled as herein before provided. SEC. 3. The State Treasurer shall be ex-officio treasurer Treasurer of the retirement fund and shall be the custodian thereof. of fund. The moneys belonging thereto shall be deposited by him in banks or trust companies, subject to the same provisions of Care of law as regulate the deposit of State funds. The retirement moneys. fund board shall determine from time to time the investment Investment. of the permanent retirement fund, but each investment shall be subject to the approval of the State Treasurer and such fund shall only be invested in those securities in which savings bank deposits may be lawfully invested. SEC. 4. The retirement fund board, subject to the provi- Powers of sions of this act, shall have power: (1) To select such employes as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and fix their compensation and prescribe their duties; (2) To investigate all matters relating to the operation of this act, and for that purpose to subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance to testify before it. Any member of the board may administer oaths or affirmations to such witnesses; (3) To require all boards, officers and persons having duties to perform hereunder in respect to contributions by teachers to the retirement fund, to report from time to time on such matters relating to such contribution as it shall deem advisable, and to prescribe the form of such reports; (4) To draw its warrants upon the State Treasurer for the payment of annuities to teachers who have been retired as provided in this act, and for the purchase of such securities as the board shall have decided to purchase as herein provided. No payment shall be made from the teachers' retirement fund, except upon warrant drawn pursuant to resolution duly adopted by the board and signed and attested as the board may prescribe; board. increase of (5) To increase the contributions from the teachers according to the provision made in section six of this act: Provided, That such increase shall not be made until the Proviso, contributions from all sources, not including the principal contributions. of the permanent fund, are insufficient to carry out the provisions of this act: Provided, That after collecting the addi- Proviso, tional contributions as above provided, should there still be pro rata insufficient funds in any year to pay all annuities in full, then, and in such case, each teacher entitled to an annuity, shall be paid pro rata in same proportion as the amount of money on hand is to the amount due. payments. SEC. 5. The retirement fund board shall make rules not Rules. What to provide. Contributions to retirement fund. inconsistent with the provisions of this act, which, when approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, shall have the force and effect of law. Such rules shall: (1) Provide for the conduct and regulation of the meetings of the board and the transaction of its business; (2) Prescribe the manner of payment of contributions by teachers to the retirement fund, and the payment and methods of payment of annuities therefrom; (3) Establish a system of accounts, showing the condition of said fund, the receipts, expenditures and investments; (4) Prescribe the forms of all accounts, warrants, reports and other documents to be used by all persons and officers having duties to perform under this act; (5) Regulate the performance of duties of boards of education, trustees, and other officers and persons, imposed upon them by this act in respect to the contributions by teachers to the retirement fund, and the deduction of such contributions from teachers' salaries. SEC. 6. (1) All teachers, except those, who, being under contract when this act takes effect, do not elect to come under its provisions, shall contribute to the retirement fund according to the following provisions: (a) A teacher who shall have taught five years or less, in this State or elsewhere in public schools, shall contribute one-half per centum of his or her annual contractual salary, Proviso, but not more than five dollars during any year: Provided, contributions. That the retirement fund board may increase the contributions to one per centum of his or her annual contractual salary, but to not more than ten dollars in any year. increase of Proviso, idem. Proviso, idem. Who deemed to have agreed to contribute. Contribution by teachers employed. (b) A teacher who shall have so taught more than five years, but less than fifteen years, shall contribute one per centum of his of her annual contractual salary, but not more than ten dollars during any year: Provided, That the retirement fund board may increase the contribution to two per centum of his or her annual contractual salary, but to not more than twenty dollars during any year. (c) A teacher who shall have so taught fifteen years or more, shall contribute two per centum of his or her annual contractual salary, but not more than twenty dollars during any year: Provided, That the retirement fund board may increase the contribution to three per centum of his or her annual contractual salary, but to not more than thirty dollars during any year. (2) After this act takes effect, every teacher contracting to teach in the public schools, including all who under any previous contract of employment have not elected to come under this act, shall, by so contracting, be conclusively deemed to agree to pay and to authorize the deduction from salary of the assessments herein provided. (3) Any person who when this act takes effect is employed as a teacher in the public schools, may within the unexpired term of such employment elect to come under the provisions of this act by notifying in writing the retirement fund board, and at the same time filing with the local school board or other body vested with control of such schools, a duplicate of such notice and an authorization to deduct from each subsequent installment of salary the proper assessment, as herein prescribed. salaries. SEC. 7. Boards of education, trustees, and other school au- Deductions thorities, having duties to perform in respect to the payment from of salaries to school teachers who are under this act, shall cause to be deducted from each installment of salary of such teachers the pro rata amount due from such teachers to the teachers' retirement fund, and forward the same to the treasurer thereof, as prescribed by the retirement fund board. Every officer and person failing to perform any duty pre- Failure scribed by this act, shall be liable to a penalty of fifty dol- to comply. lars for each offense, to be recovered in an action of debt in Penalty. the name of the people of the State of Michigan. And in case of any such liability, the Attorney General, upon requisition of the retirement fund board, shall prosecute and recover the Recovery and penalty herein provided, and when recovered pay the same to the treasurer of the school district who shall place the same to the credit of the library fund of the said district. disposition. ment thirty SEC. 8. A teacher who has taught for a period or periods Annuities aggregating thirty years, of which period at least fifteen upon retireyears, including the last five years of service preceding the years' service. application for retirement, shall have been spent in the public schools in this State, shall, upon and during retirement from actual service as a teacher on or after December one, nineteen hundred fifteen, be entitled to an annuity of a sum equal to one-half of the average annual contractual salary paid to said teacher during the last five years of service, but no such annuity shall exceed five hundred dollars nor be less than three hundred dollars. A teacher who has taught for a period Twenty-five or periods aggregating twenty-five years, of which period at years' service. least fifteen years, including the last five years of service preceding the application for retirement, shall have been spent in the public schools of this State, shall, upon and dur ing retirement from actual service as a teacher, on or after December one, nineteen hundred fifteen, be entitled to an annuity which bears the same ratio to the annuity provided for on retirement after thirty years of service as the total number of years of service of said person bears to thirty years. A teacher who, having taught in the public schools of this State for a period or periods aggregating fifteen years Fifteen or more and being in the judgment of the employing board years' service. either physically or mentally incapable of teaching, is deemed deserving of an annuity by the retirement fund board, may be retired, and shall, upon retirement, be entitled to an annuity of as many thirtieths of the full annuity herein provided after thirty years' service as said teacher has taught years in the public schools of this State. The time spent in Proviso, last five years. Retirement, how had. Request. teaching in any public institution of this State shall, for the purposes of this section, count as part of the aggregate time of teaching: Provided, That the last five years of service shall have been that of a teacher as defined by this act. Retirement may be had on request of the teacher or upon the request of a board of education or other governing body of a school district. Request for retirement shall be made in writing addressed to the retirement fund board, accompanied by evidence showing that the teacher named is entitled to retirement, and has complied with the provisions of this act, and the rules of the board relating to the payment of annuities. The board shall pass upon all requests for retirement and shall determine whether such requests should be granted. What deemed In computing terms of service under this act, a year shall be year's service. a legal school year at the time and place where said service was rendered, except that the time of service outside the State shall be reckoned by the number of years that the number of weeks taught would make of legal school years in this State. Determina tion by board. Who not How may become annuitant. Annuities payable quarterly. Duplicate Vouchers. Date of annuity. Cessation of teaching. Return to teaching. SEC. 9. 1. No teacher shall be entitled to an annuity who has not contributed to the retirement fund an amount equal to at least one hundred per centum of his or her annuity for one year. But a teacher otherwise entitled to retirement and to an annuity under this act, may become an annuitant and entitled to an annuity by making a cash payment to the retirement fund of an amount which when added to his or her previous contributions to said fund, will equal one hundred per centum of his or her annuity for one year, or if unable to pay in advance the sum required to make up the said one hundred per centum of the yearly annuity, by authorizing the withholding of such annuity until the amount withheld shall equal the sum required to make up said one hundred per centum. The amount so withheld shall be credited to said retirement fund. 2. Annuities shall be paid quarterly to the teachers entitled thereto, upon the warrants or orders of the retirement fund board. Vouchers or receipts therefor shall be signed in duplicate by annuitants. Said duplicate receipts shall be returned to the secretary of the board, and one of them shall be retained in his office and the other shall be filed in the office of the State Treasurer. 3. Each annuity shall date from the time when the retirement fund board shall grant the application for the retirement of the annuitant. SEC. 10. Any teacher who shall cease to teach in the public schools of this State before receiving any annuity from the retirement fund, shall, if application be made in writing to the retirement fund board within four months after the date of such cessation, be entitled to the return of one-half of the amount, without interest, which shall have been paid into the fund by such teacher. If such teacher should again thereafter teach in said public schools, he or she shall, within one year from the date of his or her return to the service in said public schools, return to the retirement fund the amount so returned to such teacher, together with simple interest on said amount at the rate of five per centum per annum, for the time such amount was withdrawn from the fund. SEC. 11. If any person retiring under this act shall resume Resumption teaching in this State or elsewhere, the annuity paid to such of teaching. person shall cease during the time of teaching, but shall again be paid after a subsequent retirement. included. SEC. 12. The term "teacher" as used in this act shall in- Definition of clude all persons employed in teaching by any city board of "teacher." education or school board of any city, town, village or rural school district in this State, and all superintendents and assistant superintendents of said schools, all supervisors of instruction, all principals and assistant principals, and special teachers of said schools. It shall include county school Others commissioners, county normal teachers, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and his deputies. It shall include all persons employed in teaching or educational work in the following public institutions: Industrial Home for Girls, Industrial Home for Boys, Michigan Employment Institution for the Blind, School for the Blind, School for the Deaf and State Public School and State Normal Colleges and Normal Schools. The words "retirement fund" as used in this act "Retirement shall mean the Michigan State teachers' retirement fund for defined. public school teachers as established by this act. fund" SEC. 13. There is hereby established the Michigan State of what fund teachers' retirement fund for public school teachers, which to consist. shall consist of (1) All contributions made by teachers as herein provided; (2) All donations, gifts, legacies and bequests which shall be made to establish a permanent fund, of which the income but not the principal shall be used for the purposes hereof; (3) The income derived from the investment of said permanent. fund. to apply. SEC. 14. This act shall not apply to any school district Act not wherein public school teachers are required or authorized to to apply. contribute to a teachers' retirement fund, or in which such teachers are entitled to annuities or pensions, in accordance with any special or local act: Provided, however, That any Proviso, when school district, now having a local teachers' retirement fund may, upon request of two thirds of the teachers contributing to said fund, by a majority vote of the qualified electors of said school district, discontinue said fund, and then the provisions of this act shall apply to such district in like manner as to other districts of the State. Thereupon all funds held for the purpose of such local retirement or annuity fund, after payment of any outstanding obligations other than annuities, shall be paid into the State treasury and credited to the permanent retirement fund herein provided for. persons who previously to such determination by the State retirement fund board have become entitled to annuity from All |