AGO 1990-032E.

• Court: Connecticut

Connecticut Attorney General Opinions 1990. AGO 1990-032E. 1990Opinion No. 1990-032EJohn R. ShearsSecretaryTeachers' Retirement Board165 Capitol AvenueHartford, CT 06106 Dear Secretary Shears: This is in response to your request for advice dated September 13, 1990, in which you request the opinion of this office as to the meaning of the phrase "last employing board of education" as it is used in Conn. Gen. Stat. e§10-183t as amended by 1989 Conn. Pub. Acts No. 89-342 (hereinafter P.A. 89-342). In addition, you request our opinion on whether the Teachers' Retirement Board may make subsidy payments for health insurance pursuant to Sec. 4(c) of P.A. 89-342 to a board of education other than the "last employing board of education." P.A. 89-342 provides in Section 4 that the Teachers' Retirement Board provide a subsidy to local boards of education for health insurance provided to retired teachers by those boards. Your specific questions involve a teacher who retired from the Barkhamstead Board of Education in 1982 and subsequently was employed on a temporary basis by the Groton Board of Education. The teacher is presently enrolled in the health insurance plan provided by the Groton board and wishes to have the subsidy provided under P.A. 89-342 paid to the Groton board. For the reasons set forth below, the answer to your first question is that the phrase "last employing board of education" means the last board of education in time (i.e., the most recent) to employ the teacher. The answer to your second question is that the subsidy payment must be made to the board of education actually providing the group health insurance to the member, whether or not it is the last employing board of education. Prior to the enactment of P.A. 89-342, Conn. Gen. Stat. e§10-183t provided in subsection (a) for the payment of twenty-five percent of the premium for group health insurance plans provided by the Teachers' Retirement Board for members receiving benefits (retirees), and in subsection (b), for the participation by members receiving benefits in group health insurance plans maintained by the member's "last employing board of education," at the member's expense. P.A. 89-342 amended section 10-183t by adding new subsections (c) and (d). The language in existing subsections (a) and (b) was not changed. New subsection (c) provides that the Board...