Proviso.

Proviso.

Decision of trustees conclusive.

Payment of annuities.

Payment to teachers who

and shall thereafter receive an annuity out of the fund hereinafter mentioned equal to one-half of the average annual salary received by such teacher for the five years immediately preceding the time of retirement; provided, however, that no annuity shall be less than two hundred and fifty dollars nor more than six hundred dollars; provided further, that no teacher shall be retired under the provisions of this article unless he or she shall have first paid into said fund such sum as shall make his or her total payments into said fund equal to at least twenty per centum of his or her average annual salary for the five years immediately preceding the time of such retirement. The decision of the board of trustees of said fund upon any application for such annuity shall conclusively determine the right of the applicant thereto, and the payment of any such annuity shall be suspended whenever it shall appear to said board upon sufficient proof, that the annuitant is able to earn a sufficient livelihood, but such payment may be resumed whenever said board shall deem it proper so to do.

221. All annuities payable under the provisions of this article shall be paid in quarterly installments on the last days of September, December, March and June, and all annuities granted shall date from the first day of the quarter next succeeding the dates of the granting of such annuities; but if the funds available for the payment of any installment shall not be sufficient to pay the aggregate of annuities payable under this article. in any quarter, such annuities shall abate pro rata.

222. Any teacher upon whom the provisions of this have resigned. article shall have become binding, who shall have contributed to the fund hereinafter mentioned for five years or more, and who shall resign his or her position as teacher or shall be otherwise honorably retired from such position, except as hereinbefore provided, shall, upon application within three months after the date of such resignation or retirement be entitled to receive and shall receive one-half of the total amount paid by him or her into said fund without interest.

Fund, how constituted.

223. The retirement fund herein provided for shall be made up as follows:

salary of

teacher to be

paid to fund.

I. One per centum of the monthly salaries of all Percentage of teachers upon whom this act shall have become binding by its terms prior to January first, one thousand nine hundred and three; one per centum of the monthly salaries of all teachers who shall become members of said fund on or after January first, one thousand nine hundred and three, and who shall have been teaching ten years or less at the time of becoming members of said fund; two per centum of the monthly salaries of all teachers who shall become members of said fund on or after said date, and who shall have been teaching more than ten years at the time of becoming members of said fund; provided, that on or after said date no person Proviso. who shall have been teaching more than fifteen years shall become a member of said fund unless he or she shall have passed a satisfactory medical examination under such rules as the board of trustees may prescribe; and provided further, that a teacher, now a member of Proviso. said fund, shall not be required to pay more than one per centum of his or her monthly salary by reason of the fact that he or she has been teaching more than ten years. The said per centum shall be reserved or deducted from each warrant or order for salary given to such teacher by the board of education or other officers as shall be required by law to give such warrants or orders to such teachers, and the said board of education or other officer shall, between the first and tenth days of each and every calendar month, draw their warrants for the amount so reserved and deducted during the preceding calendar month in favor of the custodian of the school moneys of the district or school in which such teachers shall be employed, and the said custodian shall, immediately upon the receipt of such warrant or order, forward to the State Treasurer the amount of money named in such warrant or order, together with a list of the names of the said teachers;

II. One per centum of all annuities paid under the Percentage of provisions of this article, which shall be deducted and

withheld from each payment made to any annuitant;

annuitants.

III. All moneys and property received by donation, Legacies.

Interest on investments.

Powers of trustees.

Make rules, etc.

Draw orders.

Expenses of trustees.

Right to sue, etc.

Hold real estate.

Who may be members

Notice of intention to join.

legacy, gift, bequest, devise or otherwise for or on account of said fund;

IV. All interest on investments and other moneys which may be duly and legally raised for the increase of said fund.

224. Said board of trustees shall have power:

I. To subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance to testify before it in all matters relating to the operation of this article, and any member of said board may administer oaths or affirmations to such witnesses;

II. To fix the salary of the secretary of said board, and to make rules, not inconsistent with the laws of this state, for their own government and for carrying out of the provisions of this article;

III. To draw their warrants or orders upon the State Treasurer for the payment out of said fund of all annuities and necessary expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this article, but the members of said board, excepting the secretary, shall serve without compensation, but said members shall be paid the necessary expenses incurred by them as members of said board, which expenses shall be paid in the same manner as other payments shall be made from said fund;

IV. By the name of "The Board of Trustees of the Teachers' Retirement Fund" to sue and be sued, complain and defend in any court of law or equity;

V. To have, hold, purchase, sell, assign and transfer any of the securities in which any part of the said retire ment fund may be invested.

225. The provisions of this article shall be binding upon any teacher employed at the time of the passage of this act in any of the schools hereinabove mentioned, only in case he or she shall sign and deliver to the board of education, board of trustees or other body by whom he or she shall be employed, a notice in substantially the following form:

To the board of education of

You are hereby notified that I desire to avail myself of the provisions of Article XXVII. of the act of the Legislature entitled "An act to establish a system of

public instruction," and that I do hereby agree to be bound thereby;

Dated

;

A duplicate of said notice shall be sent by the teacher signing the same to the secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Teachers' Retirement Fund.

226. Any teacher who has heretofore signed and delivered the notice prescribed in an act entitled "A supplement to an act entitled 'An act to establish a system of Public Instruction'" (Revision), approved March twenty-seventh, one thousand eight hundred and seventyfour, which supplement was passed March eleventh, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, or in an amendment thereto approved March twenty-fourth, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, shall become bound by the provisions of this article and shall have its advan-tages and privileges without signing or delivering any other notice, and shall be deemed to have accepted the provisions of this article by receiving any sum of money as salary from which there shall have been made a deduction under and by virtue of the provisions of this article. Any person who is not now a teacher in any of the schools hereinabove mentioned may become bound by the provisions of this article, and have its advantages and privileges, by signing and delivering to the board of education or other body by whom he or she shall be employed a notice as prescribed in this article.

teacher of

change of

school.

227. Any teacher who shall have become bound by Notice by the provisions of this article, and who shall cease to teach in the district or school in which he or she was teaching at the time of signing and delivering the notice as provided in this article, and who shall be employed as a teacher in any other district or school, shall immediately give written notice to the board of education having control of the school in which he or she shall be teaching that he or she is a member of the Teachers' Retirement Fund, and said notice shall direct that the prescribed per centum of his or her salary be deducted and forwarded to the State Treasurer. Such teacher shall send one copy of said notice with his or her address to the secre

To whom this act applies

tary of the Board of Trustees of the Teachers' Retirement Fund, and another copy of said notice to the State Treasurer.

228. The provisions of this article shall apply to any superintendent, principal or supervising principal who shall teach or be employed in the public schools of this state, or in any normal, model or reformatory school of this state, or in any other school of this state supported either wholly or in part by public moneys raised under the authority of any law of this state.

ARTICLE XXVIII.

Salaries of teachers.

Assistants in primary grammar and kindergarten departments.

SALARIES OF TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS.

229. Teachers hereafter employed in any graded school in this state supported in whole or in part by state moneys shall receive salaries proportioned to their experience and success in the school district where they may be employed, such salary, in the case of every teacher whose experience and success have been properly certified to, to be not less than the amount provided for such teacher in the following schedule:

Assistant teachers in primary and grammar schools and kindergartens:

Less than two years' experience, four hundred and eight dollars per annum;

Two years' and less than three years' experience, four hundred and fifty-six dollars per annum;

Three years' and less than four years' experience, five hundred and four dollars per annum;

Four years' and less than five years' experience, five hundred and fifty-two dollars per annum;

Five years' and less than six years' experience, six hundred dollars per annum;

Six years' and less than seven years' experience, six hundred and forty-eight dollars per annum;

Seven years' and less than eight years' experience, six hundred and ninety-six dollars per annum;