Dear School District Superintendents, Directors, Business Managers, Payroll Officials, Town Treasurers, Charter School and Education Collaborative Directors,
I am writing to bring you up to date on the progress that districts have made since my e-mail to you of February 16, and also to advise districts whose deduction reports are not yet fully reported for all of 2011 of future deadlines and action steps.
1) Deduction reporting progress
- Calendar year 2010: I am pleased to note that only 6 districts missed the March 30th deadline for completing their 2010 reports. We will be forwarding their names to the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education for further action.
- Calendar year 2011: To date, 46% of school districts are fully reported in MyTRS through September, with most of those being fully reported for all of 2011. Overall, nearly 75% of school districts have either fully reported, or at least imported to “initial” status, all of their 2011 reports. Within the next four months, however, all 2011 reports that are not yet fully reported need to be reconciled and finalized.
Please note that, if your district is fully reported for all of 2011, you do not need to take any additional action, other than continuing your timely reporting. And to all of you who are in this group, thank you—for your efforts, persistence and patience in accomplishing the transition to our web-based reporting system. We truly appreciate all of your assistance and support.
2) If your district is NOT fully reported for all of calendar year 2011, be aware of these future action steps and deadlines
As I noted in February, your prompt submission and finalization of deduction reports is necessary for us both to process retirement benefits for our members on time, and to provide accurate data on our membership for the state’s financial reports, which affect the Commonwealth’s bond rating. Without your 2011 reports, we cannot perform these two important, sensitive and visible fiduciary functions. Accordingly, please note the following related deadlines and action steps.
If your district is NOT fully reported through…
- September 2011: For 2012 Retirement application processing, you may be required to submit additional salary and contribution data for your retiring employees. Depending on how current your deduction reports are, you may be required to provide salary and deduction information for all unreported months between May 2010 and the dates of your retiring employees’ last deductions. During the week of April 23, we will begin e-mailing the “Supplemental Part 2” retirement application form and instructions to affected districts so that you may provide us with the necessary data. Failure to provide the information will prevent us from processing your district’s 2012 retirements.
- December 2011: For financial reporting purposes, please import all outstanding 2011 reports at least to “initial” status by May 15, 2012. You may recall that, last year, school districts were asked to import all then outstanding 2010 deduction reports to “initial” status in order to comply with the Commonwealth’s financial and demographic reporting requirements. This year, we have been instructed to provide this information to the State’s Actuary by the end of May. Accordingly, it is imperative that your district import all of your outstanding 2011 reports by May 15th in order for us to run our financial reports. Failure to comply with the deadline will delay not only the processing of your employees’ 2012 retirement applications, but also the preparation of the Commonwealth’s Actuarial Valuation.
Please make sure your district creates and imports all of your outstanding 2011 deduction reports by May 15th; if you need any assistance from us in meeting this deadline, please let us know as we are here to help. You will then have until August 31, 2012 to reconcile and finalize your 2011 deduction reports.
I want to thank you and your staff in advance for your continued efforts. Together we are making significant progress in reducing the backlog of deduction reports.