Out of State Service

After completing six years as a contributing member of TRS, you may establish one year of credit for service rendered in a public educational institution of another state. With the completion of each additional year of Georgia service thereafter, you may establish an additional year of out-of-state service, to a maximum of ten years. Out-of-state service may be established only if the out-of-state employment, had it been rendered in Georgia, would have made you eligible for membership in TRS. Types of employment which cannot be established are employment rendered with a private school, or public school employment that is less than half-time, temporary employment, and student employment. Credit cannot be established if you are eligible to receive a retirement benefit for this service, now or in the future, from another state’s retirement system, or the federal retirement program (excluding Social Security).

Subject to the same eligibility requirements for out-of-state service, creditable service may also be established for:

  • teaching service in American Dependents’ Schools,
  • teaching service in schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S.Department of the Interior,
  • teaching service in the public schools of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam and the District of Columbia.

If the date of your current membership in TRS is April 1, 1966, or after, your cost for out-of-state service is the total applicable member and employer contributions plus interest. If your current date of membership is prior to April 1, 1966, your cost for service rendered in a state that allows credit to be established for Georgia service is 8% of the annual salary you earned in the other state plus applicable accrued interest.

If you wish to begin the process of establishing out-of-state service, please complete the Out-of-State Teaching Certification form. This form must be completed in its entirety by the out-of-state employer and the respective retirement system for the employment. Documentation of out-of-state service may take months to obtain, so you should not postpone this process until you are near retirement.

Once the completed forms are received, TRS will notify you of your eligibility to establish out-of-state service. The cost to establish out-of-state service is the total employee and employer contributions that would have been paid had you been a TRS member at the time, plus interest. The salary you earned at the time the service was rendered will be used to calculate the cost.