Governor Ned Lamont’s Office: 

Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he has signed an executive order related to the COVID-19 emergency declarations (Executive Order No. 14E) that modifies certain state laws in order to provide school districts with greater flexibility to address the current teacher shortage caused by the recent spike in COVID-19 infections by relaxing certain statutory limits on the availability of retired teachers.

The order takes two actions:

1. It allows school boards to reemploy or continue to employ retired teachers, even if they reached the maximum limit permitted under state law while receiving retirement benefits by excluding the period between July 1, 2021, and February 15, 2022, from the salary determination.

2. It modifies certain statutes that allow school districts to hire retired teachers for a maximum of two school years in districts designated as a subject shortage area or identified as a priority school district by excluding the period between July 1, 2021, and February 15, 2022, from being included when calculating that two-year maximum eligibility period.

“This executive order is a critical step to providing much-needed resources to ensure we keep students in the classroom and provide them with an in-person education,” Governor Lamont said. “We are fortunate to have retired teachers available to provide some relief for their colleagues who continue to do great work for school children across our state. We will continue to utilize all tools at our disposal to provide for a safe and meaningful classroom education for students.”