PETITION OF:

Section 3 of chapter 32 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out subdivision (4A), amended by section 63 of chapter 60 of the acts of 1994, and inserting in place thereof the following subdivision:—
(4A) Credit for Nonpublic School Service.— Any member in service, or any member inactive on authorized leave of absence of the teachers’ retirement system or the state retirement system, who holds a certificate issued by the department of education or is exempted from the requirement of certification or any member who is employed in a public institution of higher education as a faculty member or professional employee not under the jurisdiction of the department of personnel administration classification system or any member who is employed by a public school in the commonwealth and who was previously engaged in teaching pupils or was previously an administrator or a school nurse in a non-public school prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-three, may, before the date any retirement allowance becomes effective for him, pay into the annuity savings fund of the system in one sum, or in installments, upon such terms and conditions as the appropriate board may prescribe, an amount equal to that which would have been withheld as regular deductions from his regular compensation for such previous period, or most recent portion thereof, as he may elect, had such service been rendered in a public school of the commonwealth and had he been a member of the teachers’ retirement system during the period such service was rendered. Payment shall not be made and no credit shall be allowed for service in nonpublic schools in excess of the total Massachusetts service to which the member would be entitled to receive credit if he remained in service to age sixty-five, with a maximum credit for service in nonpublic schools not to exceed ten years; provided, that no credit shall be allowed and no payment shall be accepted for any service on account of which the member shall be entitled to receive a retirement allowance or other similar payment from the nonpublic school system, the federal government or any other source. In addition to the payment of such sum, or installments thereof, such member shall also pay into the annuity savings fund an amount of interest such that at the completion of such payments the value of his accumulated payments, together with regular interest thereon, actually made on account of such previous nonpublic school service, shall equal the value of his accumulated regular deductions which would have resulted if regular deductions had been made when regular compensation for such service was actually received. Upon the completion of such payments, such member shall receive the same credit for such period of his previous nonpublic school service, or portion thereof elected, as would have been allowed if such service had been rendered by him in a public school of the commonwealth. Such member shall furnish the board with such information as it shall require to determine the amount to be paid and the credit to be allowed under this subdivision. At the time a retirement allowance becomes due to a member or to a beneficiary under option (d) of subdivision (2) of section twelve, if the Massachusetts service on the date either retirement allowance becomes effective, or on the date the member attained age sixty-five, whichever first occurs, is less than the service in nonpublic schools for which the member has paid, credit shall be allowed only for the most recent service rendered in nonpublic schools equal to such Massachusetts service, and the amount paid for additional service shall be refunded with accumulated interest, refund to be made only when the retirement allowance becomes due to the member or the beneficiary under option (d) of subdivision (2) of section twelve, and if it is found that payment has been accepted for any service for which the member is entitled to a retirement allowance from any nonpublic school system, the amount paid for such service with accumulated interest shall also be refunded with no retirement credit allowed.