Date of Award
6-1951
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Education (MSEd)
Abstract
At no time in the history of the United States has social legislation and the subject of subsidized retirement .benefits l received greater emphasis than during the past fifteen years. Individual states had made provisions for retirement and insurance available to members of the teaching profession long before this trend gained national prominence. North Dakota was one of the first three states to pioneer in legislation of this type when the state legislature made provisions for a teachers retirement plan, in 1914. From this humble beginning before World War I, there has been a general growth in this movement until at the present time when all states have a system of teacher's retirement brought about through legislative action.
There was a need for this movement to take root, and in many instances retirement systems were begun as a matter of political expediency rather than in keeping with sound principles necessary for the continued success of a retirement plan. In plans devised without great knowledge or experience, such as these plans were, it is only natural that weaknesses and inadequacies would manifest themselves through time and usage. It soon became evident that much original legislation would have to be revised in order to eliminate these dangers which were threatening the retirement system in its infancy.
Economic changes were also a matter to be coped with, as the benefits available to retired teachers did not keep pace with their ever-increasing economic needs. These and other weaknesses brought about four revisions, in 1919, 1941, 1947, and 1949, to the North Dakota teacher's retirement plan.
Federal social legislation did not make its appearance in the United States until 1935 when the Federal Social Security Act was passed. Since then there has been a great deal of debate as to what effect this would have upon the independent state retirement systems. The original Social Security Act did not endanger the independent retirement plans, but the passage of H. R. 6000 posed a definite threat to existing state and municipal retirement systems as we know them today.
Recommended Citation
Klein, Jacob, "The north dakotas teacher's insurance and retirement plan with suggestions for future improvements" (1951). Theses and Dissertations. 6664.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/6664
