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9/3/2025
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Rep. O’Brien will propose pension changes to address teacher shortage
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STATE HOUSE – In an effort to address Rhode Island’s ever-increasing teacher shortage, Rep. William W. O’Brien will be introducing legislation in January to bring Rhode Island’s state pension system more in line with Massachusetts and Connecticut. More specifically, Representative O’Brien’s proposed legislation would allow teachers, and other public-sector workers, to retire without reduced benefits if their age and years of service add up to 85.
“We need this important change because we can’t find and hire teachers in Rhode Island partly due to our pension and retirement provisions. Countless Rhode Island teachers are jumping ship to work in our neighboring states because the retirement rules and benefits are much better in Massachusetts and Connecticut. If we are serious about fixing Rhode Island’s chronic teacher shortage issue, this change is absolutely necessary,” said Representative O’Brien (D-Dist. 54, North Providence).
Representative O’Brien also believes that the state’s teacher testing requirements need to be adjusted to retain teaching talent in Rhode Island. Due to his advocacy and leadership, the House of Representatives passed legislation (2025-H 5603) introduced by Representative O’Brien last session that addressed the issue, but the bill failed to pass the entire General Assembly.
“We are finding that the Rhode Island testing requirements are overly strenuous and when a young future teacher does not pass Rhode Island’s test, they pack up and go across the border to teach in Massachusetts, which has far more reasonable testing requirements. And with the consistently best-rated education system in the country, no one can say that Massachusetts and its teacher certification requirements are failing its students. RIDE needs to take a serious look at our certification requirements because without new teachers coming into the system, our students are facing a ticking time bomb of not having enough teachers,” added Representative O’Brien.
He also notes how the expansion of charter schools is harming the state’s pension system, since charter school teachers do not pay into the pension system.
“Charter schools suck up immense amounts of public funding, yet their teachers do not contribute to the pension system. This in turn raises the costs for teachers, retirees and our municipalities. Our teacher shortage problem cannot be solved without hiring more teachers, and currently, too many qualified teachers are refusing to teach in Rhode Island due to how our pension system operates. Bold leadership is required to tackle this issue and time is of the essence so that future generations of Rhode Island students are not harmed due to a lack of teachers in our classrooms,” concluded Representative O’Brien.
Last legislative session, Representative O’Brien saw one of his bills that addresses teacher shortages become law. The legislation (2025-H 5322A) allows retired teachers to substitute in excess of 90 days and up to 180 days in a single school year in certain instances. The legislation also states that the local education authority must provide the state retirement board with certain information about their total number of teacher positions when asking to employ retired teachers.
“Our state is facing a significant shortage of qualified teachers and this troubling fact poses a real threat to the quality of education received by some of our state’s students. This bill will allow seasoned and experienced retired teachers to provide even more support in the classroom to help the dedicated, but significantly short-staffed, teachers and our students who deserve qualified, quality teachers,” said Representative O’Brien.
For more information, contact:
Andrew Caruolo, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-6124
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