Teachers: defined contribution plans: salaries.

Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administered by the Teachers' Retirement Board. The Defined Benefit Program is funded by employer and employee contributions, as well as investment returns and state appropriations, which are deposited or credited to the Teachers' Retirement Fund. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to adopt a schedule of salaries to be paid to the certificated employees of the school district. Existing law prohibits the governing board of a school district from drawing orders for the salary of any teacher in violation of a salary schedule based on a uniform allowance for years of training and years of experience, or on other criteria agreed to by the school district and the exclusive representative of the certificated employees of the school district. This bill would authorize a school district to offer a defined contribution plan to certificated employees and would exclude a certificated employee who opts into a defined contribution plan from membership in the Defined Benefit Program. The bill would authorize a school district to offer a higher salary or lower contribution rate to a defined contribution plan as an incentive for a certificated employee to opt into a defined contribution plan. The bill would authorize a certificated employee to negotiate a salary or contribution rate for a defined contribution plan outside of the school district's salary schedule. The bill would provide that, to the extent the bill's provisions conflict with any provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into by a public school employer and an exclusive bargaining representative before January 1, 2021, these provisions do not apply to the school district until the expiration or renewal of that collective bargaining agreement.