(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no minimum or maximum age limits shall be established for the employment or continuance in employment of persons as part of the classified service.

(b) Any person possessing all of the minimum qualifications for any employment shall be eligible for appointment to that employment, and no rule or policy, either written or unwritten, heretofore or hereafter adopted, shall prohibit the employment or continued employment, solely because of the age of any person in any school employment who is otherwise qualified.

(c) No person shall be employed in school employment while he or she is receiving a retirement allowance under any retirement system by reason of prior school employment, except that a person may be hired:

(1) Pursuant to Article 8 (commencing with Section 21220) of Chapter 12 of Part 3 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(2) As an aide in one of the following circumstances:

(A) An aide is needed in a class with a high pupil-teacher ratio.

(B) An aide is needed to provide one-on-one instruction in remedial classes or for underprivileged students.

A person working as an aide pursuant to this subdivision shall not receive service credits for purposes of the State Teachers’ Retirement System.

(d) The provisions of subdivision (c) shall be inapplicable to persons who were employed in the classified service of any school district as of September 18, 1959, and who are still in the employ of the same district on the effective date of this subdivision, and the rights of those persons shall be fixed and determined as of September 18, 1959, and no such person shall be deprived of any right to any retirement allowance or eligibility for any such allowance to which he or she would have been entitled as of that date. Any such person who, by reason of any provision of law to the contrary, has been deprived of any right to retirement allowance or eligibility for such an allowance, shall, upon the filing of application therefor, be reinstated to such rights as he or she would have had had this subdivision been in effect on September 18, 1959.

(e) This section shall apply to districts that have adopted the merit system in the same manner and effect as if it were a part of Article 6 (commencing with Section 45240) of this chapter.

(Amended by Stats. 2005, Ch. 351, Sec. 40. Effective January 1, 2006.)