California Attorney General Opinion 23-601

BACKGROUND

This opinion request seeks clarification concerning the Teachers’ Retirement Law based on concerns raised by the Alameda County Office of Education regarding employer-reporting and contribution-remittance obligations to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (commonly known as CalSTRS). 2 As reflected in applicable regulations, charter schools do not report directly to CalSTRS; instead, the county superintendent of schools submits any required reports and contributions to the system as an intermediary on the charter school’s behalf.

2 The Teachers’ Retirement Law is codified at Education Code section 22000 et seq. Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory references in the text are to the Education Code. 3 The county superintendent of schools is typically the head of the county office of education. (See Today’s Fresh Start, Inc. v. Los Angeles County Office of Education (2013) 57 Cal.4th 197, 207 & fn. 4.) We use the terms “county superintendent” and “county office of education” interchangeably as context warrants. Other than the county office of education (or superintendent of schools), “direct reports” to CalSTRS are limited to those specific school or…