Faculty in the Florida Retirement System or Teachers Retirement System and DROP Participation

David R. Colburn, Provost and Senior Vice President

In passing the “School Code Rewrite” (Senate Bill 20E), the Florida legislature clarified who are “instructional personnel” for purposes of delaying entry into the DROP program. Only K-12 teachers are now classified as instructional personnel for this purpose. As a consequence, only instructional personnel associated with the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School will be eligible for this exemption after January 7, 2003.

This memorandum is to inform you that if you missed entering DROP at your initial eligibility date and have not entered since, you have a second chance only until January 2003. You should immediately call Division of Human Resources’ University Retirement at 352-392-4941 to get the appropriate dates and to determine the steps necessary to begin the enrollment process. You should allow 60 days, at a minimum, to complete the process. ( http://www.hr.ufl.edu/benefits/drop.htm )

From January 7, 2003 forward, you will have to enroll either when you reach 30 years of creditable service or the age of 62 to receive maximum benefits. There are some exceptions that you can review on the above web site. The month to start DROP to receive maximum benefits (60 months) is at the beginning of the month in which your service reaches 30 years or when you become 62. After that date, you have one year to enroll but the 60 months will be reduced accordingly. Please remember the 60-day lead-time so that you may receive the maximum benefits possible.