(a) A district retirement salary plan established under Sections 24800 to 24812, inclusive, in any school district or districts, in which the average daily attendance of all districts combined is in excess of 200,000, governed by the same governing board, may be discontinued by the governing board of the district or districts, with the consent of the majority of the active members of the system expressing their desires with respect to the discontinuance of the plan evidenced in the manner the governing board may prescribe. However, no discontinuance of any retirement plan shall be effective for any purpose unless provision is made for retirement allowances for active and retired employees of the district as provided in subdivisions (b), (c), (d), and (e).

(b) (1) Active and retired employees of the district or districts who otherwise would be members of the plan, other than teachers and persons employed in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System or who were so employed prior to retirement, shall be made members and beneficiaries, respectively, of the Public Employees’ Retirement System according to Part 3 (commencing with Section 20000) of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, including transfer to the system of the accumulated contributions of the employees, together with any other assets of the plan as may be determined.

(2) With respect to persons who are members of the plan at its discontinuance, it shall be provided in the contract making the employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, that their respective rates of contribution under the system shall be based on the age at the nearest birthday on July 1, 1944, or at the respective later effective dates of their membership in the plan, all instead of the age at the nearest birthday at the effective date of membership in the employees’ system.

(3) Each employee of the district or districts who is included in the contract, but who during all or part of his or her employment in a status requisite for membership in the plan was not a member thereof, because of his or her election under an available option, or who failed to redeposit upon reentry into membership contributions previously withdrawn, shall have the right to elect by written document filed with the Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, at any time within 90 days after the date upon which the notice of the right to make the election is mailed by the system to the member’s latest address on file in the office of the system, and prior to the date of retirement, to contribute to the system, subject to minimum payments fixed by the board of administration, and in one or more sums, or in not to exceed 60 monthly payments, an amount which, when added to his or her accumulated contributions, including interest, transferred as required in paragraph (1), will make a total amount equal to the accumulated contributions, including interest, that would have been credited to him or her in the plan, if he or she had never elected not to be a member thereof, or if he or she had redeposited the withdrawn contributions upon reentry, as the case may be. The employee shall pay to the Public Employees’ Retirement System interest on the unpaid balance of the amount payable to the system, beginning with the date of discontinuance of the plan at the rate of interest currently used from time to time under the system. If the employee elects to make, and makes the contributions, and pays the interest, but not otherwise, he or she shall receive credit under the employees’ system, as state service, for all the service rendered while he or she was not a member of the plan, because of his or her optional exclusion, or for all service upon which the withdrawn contributions were based, and for the purpose of paragraph (2) shall be considered as a member of the plan at its discontinuance and from November 1, 1937, or later beginning date of the service. Regardless of whether the contributions are made, the employee shall receive credit for service with which he or she was credited or would have been credited if he or she had been a member, as prior service under the plan. The contributions under this paragraph shall be added to and administered in the same manner as the contributions transferred under paragraph (1).

(4) Service rendered by active employees, who are made members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, prior to the assumption by the district or districts of the function under which the service was rendered, such as, but not limited to, cafeterias and student body activities, shall be credited under the employees’ system, provided the service qualified for credit under the discontinued plan.

(5) The contract making the active employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, shall include the employees with respect to service rendered in a status in which they are not eligible for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, as provided in Section 20491 of the Government Code, and also with respect to service rendered in a status in which they are eligible for membership, but that is no longer credited under the retirement system, and the service shall be credited in the same manner applicable to service otherwise qualifying for credit.

(6) Retirement allowances being paid under the discontinued plan to retired employees of the district or districts, who are made beneficiaries of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, shall be changed by action of the governing board of the districts, effective at the discontinuance of the plan, to retirement allowances calculated on the basis of service used in the calculation of the respective allowances under the plan, and average annual salary earnable during the highest three consecutive years of creditable service, calculated according to the methods used at the date of discontinuance, under the plan in determining salary earnable, but excluding any salary based on overtime as provided in Section 20025.2 of the Government Code, but otherwise according to the formulae under the employees’ system that apply to active employees who are made members thereof. The changed allowances shall be paid to beneficiaries for time commencing on the date they are made beneficiaries of the employees’ system. No allowance shall be reduced by the change.

(7) If two or more districts under the control and management of a single governing board are participants in the plan, one contract between the board of administration and the governing board may include all the districts. The governing board may apportion the total contributions required under the contract, among the districts on the basis of total salaries upon which the contributions are computed, and on the basis of other pertinent information.

(8) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the contract making active employees members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, shall include teachers and persons employed in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, with respect to service rendered in a status in which they would have been eligible for membership in the Public Employees’ Retirement System, if the district or districts by which they were employed had been participating in that system under Part 3 (commencing with Section 20000) of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code. Contributions deducted from salary earned by the employees in that service, together with credited interest, and standing to the credit of the employees at the effective date of discontinuance of the plan, shall be subject to paragraph (1), in the same manner as they would have been so subject if the employees had been employed at the date of the discontinuance, in a status which was not requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System. The employees shall be members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System with the same effect, but only with respect to that service, as if they had been employed in a status that would have qualified them for membership under other paragraphs of this subdivision. The employees shall continue in membership and shall be entitled to benefits in the same manner as if they individually were credited with at least five hundred dollars ($500) in accumulated contributions. In the computation of the members’ benefits under the Public Employees’ Retirement System, their compensation earnable while they are members of the State Teachers’ Retirement System shall be taken into consideration.

(c) Notwithstanding Sections 35161, 35162, Article 1 (commencing with Section 7000) of Chapter 1 of Part 5, Article 2 (commencing with Section 10010) of Chapter 1 of Part 7, Article 1 (commencing with Section 12500) of Chapter 5 of Part 8, this part, Article 5 (commencing with Section 32340) of Chapter 3 of Part 19, and Part 25 (commencing with Section 44000), contributions to the discontinued district retirement plan made by teachers and other persons employed by the district or districts in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System standing to their individual credit at the date of discontinuance of the district retirement plan shall be deposited in the Retirement Annuity Fund with credited interest, to be applied on the amount due from the teachers, but not to exceed the amount due. Likewise an amount equal to the actuarial equivalent of the annuity portion of the retirement allowance to which the respective retired teachers and other persons employed by the district or districts, prior to retirement, in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System were entitled under the plan, based on the interest rate and mortality tables used in its determination, shall be deposited in the Retirement Annuity Fund, to be applied on the amount due from the respective retired teachers, but not to exceed the amount due. Any excess of the contributions with credited interest or the actuarial equivalents, as the case may be, over the respective amounts due under those sections, shall be paid to the respective active and retired teachers and other persons. Further amounts, if any, due under those sections after the deposits, shall be paid to the Retirement Annuity Fund by the respective active and retired teachers and other persons. If any of the teachers or other persons who is not retired, is not entitled to credit under the State Teachers’ Retirement System for all or part of his or her service credited under the plan, or if any of the retired teachers or other persons is not entitled to a retirement allowance from the system, either before or after the discontinuance, the provisions of this subdivision about contributions and credited interest or about the actuarial equivalent of annuity portions of retirement allowances, as the case may be, shall not apply to him or her with respect to service that is not credited under the state system, until and unless he or she becomes entitled to credit for that service or to an allowance from the state system, based on service that was credited to him or her under the discontinued plan. The balance of the assets held in the various funds of the discontinued district retirement plan after the transfers, deposits, and payments required by this section, or after establishment of reserves from which the transfers, deposits, and payments shall be made, shall be delivered to the district or districts in which the plan is discontinued.

(d) The district or districts in which the district retirement plan is discontinued shall pay monthly to teachers and other persons employed by the district or districts, prior to retirement, in a status requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System who were retired prior to the date of the discontinuance an amount equal to the amount by which the retirement allowance to which any of the retired teachers or other persons was entitled under the plan exceeds the increase in the teacher’s or other person’s retirement allowance under the State Teachers’ Retirement System resulting from the discontinuance. If the amount payable to any teacher or other person, under the previous sentence, is less than two dollars ($2), the district or districts may pay, in lieu of that amount, one amount that shall be actuarially equivalent to the monthly amount thereafter payable, according to the interest rate and mortality table used in the determination of the teacher’s or other person’s retirement allowance under the district retirement plan. The payment of the actuarially equivalent amount shall discharge fully the district’s liability to the teacher or other person under this subdivision. The arrangement under which the amounts are paid by the district shall not be considered to be a local retirement system for the purposes of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 22000) to Chapter 19 (commencing with Section 23200), inclusive, and Chapter 21.5 (commencing with Section 23700), nor shall the amount be taken into account in the calculation of retirement allowances under the State Teachers’ Retirement System. If any of the teachers or other persons is not entitled to a retirement allowance from the State Teachers’ Retirement System, either before or after discontinuance, the district or districts shall pay monthly to him or her, an amount equal to his or her retirement allowance under the plan prior to the discontinuance. If any teacher or other person has left the service of the district or districts, and is in a status under the plan, which if continued would qualify him or her for a retirement allowance without his or her return to that service, but is in a status that would otherwise not qualify him or her for retirement under the state system, the district or districts shall pay monthly to the teacher or other person, beginning at the date upon which he or she would have qualified for service retirement under the plan, an amount equal to the retirement allowance for which he or she would have qualified if the plan had not been discontinued. If any teacher or other person has credit under the plan for service that does not qualify for credit under either the State Teachers’ Retirement System or Public Employees’ Retirement System, the district or districts shall pay monthly to the teacher or other person, beginning on the date upon which he or she would have qualified for service retirement under the plan, an amount equal to the retirement allowance for which he or she would have qualified on the basis of that service if the plan had not been discontinued. If the individual at a later date becomes entitled to a retirement allowance from the state system, based on service that was credited to him or her under the discontinued plan, the monthly payments shall cease, and he or she shall become subject to subdivision (c), and the first four sentences of this subdivision, in the same manner as he or she would have been subject, if he or she had been entitled to a retirement allowance at the date of discontinuance, but calculation of actuarial equivalents and amounts payable shall be made as of the later date.

(e) If any person who was retired prior to the discontinuance from a position requisite for membership in the State Teachers’ Retirement System, under a district retirement salary plan that is discontinued pursuant to this section, elected either under the plan or under the system, but not under both, to have the retirement allowance modified according to an option under which he or she would receive a smaller allowance and provide a benefit for his or her beneficiary, the person shall have the right, to be exercised not later than 60 days after the discontinuance of the plan, to change his or her election under the State Teachers’ Retirement System with respect to the options. Any computations of actuarial equivalent under a changed election shall be made as of the date of discontinuance of the plan, and no adjustment shall be included in the computation on account of retirement allowance payments made prior to that date.

(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 933, Sec. 107. Effective September 28, 1994.)