Sarah Ciavelli asks Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System to grant two years of credit toward retirement

Sarah Ciavelli, a 24-year public school educator, told the Public Service Committee she is seeking legislation to allow the Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System (MTRS) to grant two years of prior paraprofessional service as credible service toward her retirement so she can retire "with retirement plus" at age 55.

Ciavelli said she worked as a paraprofessional at a charter school before becoming a teacher and that the MTRS or the State system denied credit for those two years because the charter role was classified as "non licensed." She said a former coworker who held an identical role successfully purchased four years of credit, and she asked the committee for a compassionate, targeted solution because she is losing vision to a degenerative retinal disease: "I am losing my vision due to a degenerative retinal disease called retinitis pigmentosa, and my time is limited in teaching," she said.

Ciavelli told the committee she is not seeking a wholesale system change but a narrowly tailored remedy. The committee asked no substantive follow-up questions during testimony; she said she would submit written materials.

Next steps: the committee will review any submitted documentation and consider the request as part of its regular legislative process.