Some retired teachers hit with large bills for ‘overpayment debt’

Thousands of retired teachers in California are facing hefty bills from the state’s teacher retirement agency due to miscalculations of their benefits, the Mercury News reported.

The state Supreme Court declined last month to hear a case brought by 27 of the teachers, leaving them to repay large sums to the California State Teacher Retirement System. Some teachers owe more than $100,000.

“Retirees have literally had to pay for the mistakes that either the district or CalSTRS were making,” Jennifer Baker, a legislative advocate at the California Retired Teachers Association, told the Mercury. “These are individuals who did what they were supposed to do: they sat down with a CalSTRS counselor, they checked with the district to make sure that data was correct, and they retired based on the information they were given.”

Most of the miscalculations were related to bonuses, teaching summer school and other “extras” that could affect a teacher’s salary.