Maine PERS and Social Security: A Guide for Teachers

Last Updated: September 25, 2026

Maine public school teachers do not pay into Social Security from their teaching job. According to MainePERS (the Maine Public Employees Retirement System), membership is mandatory for anyone in a position that meets the legal definition of "teacher," and "you will contribute to your MainePERS pension instead of Social Security." For decades, that meant any Social Security benefit earned from other jobs was cut by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), and spousal and survivor benefits were cut by the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025, repealed both provisions for benefits payable after December 2023.

Looking for the official MainePERS website? It's mainepers.org, where you manage your pension account, benefit estimates, and retirement application. Your Social Security record lives separately at my Social Security on ssa.gov. This guide explains how the two systems interact.

This guide covers what changed for Maine teachers, how the MainePERS cost-of-living adjustment actually works, and how couples with a MainePERS pension and Social Security can plan around both.

Check your updated Social Security benefit estimate →

The Two-System Picture: MainePERS and Social Security

MainePERS runs several retirement plans. Teachers belong to the State Employee and Teacher Retirement Program, the same program that covers state employees. (Local government workers are in a separate Participating Local District, or PLD, plan with different rules.)

Here is what that means for a Maine teacher, based on the 2026 MainePERS Teacher Member Handbook:

• Membership is mandatory from your first day if your position requires Department of Education certification (and you hold it), or if its main function is "introducing new learning to students."
• You contribute 7.65% of your earnable compensation to MainePERS, in place of Social Security tax.
• No Social Security credits are earned from MainePERS-covered teaching.
• You earn a defined-benefit pension: 2% of your average final compensation (your three highest years of earnable pay) for each year of service credit.
• You are vested after five years of service credit.

The handbook's own example: a teacher with 25 years of service and an average final compensation of $36,000 gets $36,000 × 25 × 2% = $18,000 a year, or $1,500 a month, under the Full Benefit option at normal retirement age.

There are exceptions: membership is optional for substitute teachers, and some adult education teachers and coaches are excluded. If a school position doesn't meet the definition of "teacher," it must be covered by Social Security, a PLD plan, or another qualifying retirement plan.

The quick check: look at your pay stub. If Social Security (OASDI) tax is withheld, that job is covered. If only MainePERS contributions come out, it isn't.

Normal retirement age depends on when you started

MainePERS normal retirement age is 60, 62, or 65, depending on your service history:

Source: MainePERS Teacher Member Handbook 2026. The handbook lists a few other ways to qualify, including service credit purchases, so confirm yours with MainePERS.

If you have 25 years of service and retire before normal retirement age, MainePERS reduces the pension. The reduction is about 2¼% per year early if your normal retirement age is 60, and 6% per year early if it is 62 or 65.

What the Fairness Act Means for MainePERS Members

MainePERS states on its Teachers page that the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 (H.R. 82) repealed WEP and GPO. As MainePERS puts it, the WEP and GPO "were offsets to any social security benefits someone might be eligible to receive."

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) used a modified formula to shrink your own Social Security retirement benefit if you also had a non-covered pension. In 2024 the maximum WEP reduction was $587 a month, according to the SSA 2024 fact sheet. See our Windfall Elimination Provision explainer for how the formula worked.

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced Social Security spousal and survivor benefits by two-thirds of your non-covered pension. Using the handbook's $1,500-a-month example, GPO would have cut a spousal or survivor benefit by $1,000 a month. For a teacher with a full-career pension, that could wipe out the spousal or survivor benefit entirely. Our Government Pension Offset guide covers the full history.

Under Public Law 118-273, both provisions are gone for benefits payable for months after December 2023. What that means for a MainePERS teacher:

• Any Social Security retirement benefit you earned from covered work now pays the full, standard formula amount
• Spousal and survivor benefits on your husband's or wife's record are no longer reduced because of your MainePERS pension
• Your MainePERS pension itself doesn't change. The repeal affects only Social Security

For a full breakdown of the law, see our Social Security Fairness Act guide.

Retroactive Payments: What Maine Teachers May Be Owed

The repeal applies back to January 2024. If you were already getting a Social Security benefit that WEP or GPO had reduced, SSA pays a one-time lump sum covering the difference back to January 2024, plus a higher monthly benefit going forward.

SSA began adjusting benefits and paying retroactive amounts on February 25, 2025. By July 7, 2025, it reported sending more than 3.1 million payments totaling $17 billion, five months ahead of schedule. (Source: SSA Fairness Act update.)

If you think you were missed: log in to ssa.gov/myaccount and review your payment history. MainePERS directs Social Security questions to SSA at 1-800-772-1213. Widows and widowers once blocked by GPO should contact SSA too. Our survivor benefits guide explains who qualifies.

The MainePERS COLA: How It Works

MainePERS pays retirees an annual cost-of-living adjustment with two important limits.

1. The rate is capped at 3%. Maine law (5 M.R.S. §17806) ties the COLA to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) from July 1 to June 30, "up to a maximum annual increase of 3%." If CPI falls, the COLA is 0% for that year.

2. It applies only to a base amount, not your whole pension. Since July 1, 2011, the COLA applies only to the first $20,000 of benefit, and that base is indexed by each COLA paid. For 2026, MainePERS lists the base as $27,142.56.

The 2026 COLA in numbers. According to MainePERS, CPI-U for the year ending June 30, 2026 was 3.5%. Because of the cap, eligible State and Teacher retirees receive 3.0% on the first $27,142.56 of their annual benefit, a maximum increase of $67.86 a month. It is a permanent increase, paid starting with the September 2026 benefit. The 2027 base rises to $27,956.84.

What that means in practice (MainePERS's own example on its State COLA page): a retiree with a $30,000 annual benefit gets $814.28 more a year, bringing the benefit to $30,814.28. That's an effective increase of about 2.7% on the full pension. The larger your pension, the lower the effective rate, because the dollar amount is capped.

When your COLA starts. Timing depends on your normal retirement age:

• Normal retirement age 60: you become eligible after 12 months of benefit payments. For 2026, your retirement had to be effective on or before September 1, 2025.
• Normal retirement age 62 or 65: your first COLA comes the first September that is at least 12 months after you reach normal retirement age. If you retire early, you can wait several years for your first COLA.

MainePERS COLA vs. Social Security COLA

Sources: MainePERS COLA, 5 M.R.S. §17806, SSA 2026 COLA announcement.

The takeaway: when inflation runs above 3%, or your pension is well above the base, Social Security's uncapped COLA on the full benefit does more to protect purchasing power. That makes when you claim Social Security more important over a long retirement.

The 40-Credit Requirement: What MainePERS Doesn't Provide

MainePERS teaching service doesn't earn Social Security credits. To get a Social Security retirement benefit on your own record, you need 40 credits, and you can earn at most 4 a year. That means at least 10 years of covered work. (Source: SSA.) Our Social Security work credits guide explains how credits add up.

Many Maine teachers do have covered work: a career before teaching, summer or part-time jobs, school jobs outside the "teacher" definition that were covered by Social Security, or teaching in another state where the job was covered. Those earnings now count at full value.

If your whole career was in MainePERS-covered teaching, you may have no Social Security benefit of your own. The Fairness Act doesn't create one. But you may still qualify for a spousal or survivor benefit on your spouse's record, which is where the GPO repeal matters most.

A separate check: Medicare. State and local government employees hired after March 31, 1986 are generally subject to mandatory Medicare coverage, so Medicare tax is withheld even when Social Security tax is not. (Source: SSA.) Those Medicare-covered earnings count toward the 40 quarters needed for premium-free Medicare Part A. (Source: SSA POMS HI 00801.400.) If you were hired before that date, check your W-2 to see whether Medicare tax was withheld, and check your SSA earnings record.

Claiming Strategy for Couples With MainePERS and Social Security

1. Claiming age changes the Social Security check permanently. With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 cuts your benefit by 30%, and waiting past 67 adds 8% per year up to age 70. (Sources: SSA early retirement reduction, SSA delayed retirement credits.) On a $2,000 full-retirement-age benefit, that's about $1,400 a month at 62 versus about $2,480 at 70, before COLAs.

2. The spousal and survivor benefits are now available in full. A spouse can receive up to 50% of the worker's full-retirement-age benefit, and a surviving spouse can receive up to 100% of the deceased worker's benefit. Before 2024, GPO often wiped these out for Maine teachers. Now the MainePERS pension doesn't reduce them at all. Use our spousal benefits calculator to model both records together.

3. The MainePERS survivor option and Social Security survivor benefit work together. When you retire, MainePERS lets you take the Full Benefit (nothing continues to a beneficiary) or one of eight reduced options. For example, Option 2 continues your full amount to your beneficiary, and Option 3 continues half. If you're married and name someone other than your spouse, Maine law requires you to notify your spouse. MainePERS doesn't advise members on which option to choose.

Weigh the two decisions together. If the higher Social Security earner delays to 70, the surviving spouse can step up to that larger check. The teacher's MainePERS option decides how much pension continues if the teacher dies first, and a reduced option costs income every month.

Steps to Take Now

1. Check your Social Security record. Log in to ssa.gov/myaccount, confirm your covered earnings, and review your benefit estimate now that WEP is gone.

2. Get your MainePERS estimate. Use the MainePERS Benefit Estimator, then request a formal estimate 6 to 12 months before you plan to retire. It shows every payment option.

3. Confirm your normal retirement age. It decides whether you face an early-retirement reduction and when your first COLA arrives.

4. Model both spouses together. With GPO repealed, a spousal or survivor benefit may now be part of your household income.

5. If you're widowed, contact SSA. A survivor benefit that GPO reduced or blocked may now be payable, retroactive to January 2024.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Maine teachers pay into Social Security?

Generally, no. MainePERS membership is mandatory for public school employees whose position meets the legal definition of teacher, and they contribute 7.65% of earnable pay to MainePERS instead of Social Security. School positions that don't meet that definition must be covered by Social Security, a MainePERS local district plan, or another qualifying plan. Your pay stub shows which applies to you.

Does my MainePERS pension still reduce my Social Security?

No. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset for benefits payable after December 2023. A MainePERS pension no longer reduces your own Social Security retirement benefit or a spousal or survivor benefit on your spouse's record. SSA has paid retroactive amounts back to January 2024.

How does the MainePERS COLA work?

For State and Teacher retirees, Maine law ties the COLA to the CPI-U, capped at 3% a year and applied only to a base amount of your benefit. For 2026, CPI-U was 3.5%, so eligible retirees received 3.0% on the first $27,142.56, a maximum of $67.86 a month, starting September 2026. The base rises to $27,956.84 in 2027.

When will I get my first MainePERS COLA?

It depends on your normal retirement age. If it is 60, you qualify after receiving 12 months of benefit payments, and the COLA starts the following September. If it is 62 or 65, your first COLA comes the first September that is at least 12 months after you reach normal retirement age, so early retirees may wait several years.

Can a Maine teacher get Social Security spousal or survivor benefits?

Yes. Since the Government Pension Offset was repealed, a MainePERS pension no longer reduces spousal or survivor benefits. If your spouse has a Social Security record, you may receive up to 50% of their full-retirement-age benefit as a spouse, or up to 100% of their benefit as a surviving spouse, even if you never paid into Social Security yourself.

Additional Resources

• MainePERS Official Website: member portal, benefit estimates, retirement applications
• MainePERS Teacher Member Handbook 2026: membership, benefit formula, retirement age, COLA eligibility
• MainePERS COLA: current COLA rate and base amount
• SSA Social Security Fairness Act: official SSA guidance on the WEP and GPO repeal
• H.R. 82 on Congress.gov: full text of the law
• SSA myAccount: your earnings record and benefit estimates

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Social Security benefit estimation worksheets for mixed covered/non-covered work histories Spousal and survivor benefit coordination guide (post-GPO) Pension and Social Security income planning Tax planning for retirement income from multiple sources

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Other state teacher pension systems:

• MTRS Massachusetts: Massachusetts teachers
• TRS Texas: Texas teachers

Continue learning:

• Social Security for Teachers and Government Workers: how non-covered public jobs work

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Social Security rules are complex and individual situations vary. Pension system details may change — verify with your plan administrator. Consult a qualified professional for personalized guidance. Benefora is not affiliated with the Social Security Administration or any state pension system.