Do Kansas teachers get Social Security? KPERS and the 2026 and 2027 earnings limits

1. Do Kansas teachers pay into Social Security?

In Kansas, KPERS-covered school jobs are also covered by Social Security: Kansas’s retirement law and KPERS’s own rule require KPERS-covered employees to be covered by Social Security. In data the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published in 2019, Kansas is a state that provides Social Security coverage to teachers.

The policy goes back to 1951. K.S.A. 40-2301, a declaration of policy first passed in 1951 and amended in 1955, is about Social Security protection for “certain employees of the state and its political subdivisions”. It says that, “subject to the limitations of this act,” that protection should be provided “on as broad a basis as is permitted under the social security act.” Today’s KPERS law ties KPERS to Social Security coverage. Its definition of an eligible employer (K.S.A. 74-4902(13)) lists the State of Kansas, counties, cities, townships, special districts and other listed public bodies “whose employees are covered by social security.” If only some classes of an employer’s employees are covered, the same subsection treats it as an eligible employer “only with respect to such class or those classes of employees who are covered by social security”. A separate section, K.S.A. 74-4931, makes “Kansas public school districts” eligible employers as defined in that same subsection (13).

KPERS’s own regulation, K.A.R. 80-1-7, which applies when KPERS membership is decided under K.S.A. 74-4902(13) and (14), says “the term ‘employee’ shall be construed to mean an individual who is covered by social security”. The same sentence adds two more conditions: the person must hold an office or position that requires a set minimum of hours of work each year, and must actually be paid for it. KPERS told the Kansas Legislative Research Department in 2025 that the rule is “In active use”. As we read these rules together, a KPERS-covered school job is a Social Security-covered job; they do not say that each school job in Kansas is KPERS-covered.

In its own words, NCES says: “Teachers’ eligibility for social security coverage depends on what state and school district they work in.” NCES published its data in 2019, marks Kansas “Yes”, and does not say which school year the data describe. It explains how it built them: “data were compiled at the state and school district levels.” Its sources included “communication with state social security administrators.” Read its answer as the general picture for Kansas when NCES published it, not as a statement about any one job today.

NCES’s table also says who it describes: “Unless otherwise designated in the notes/citations column, this table assumes ‘teacher’ to mean a full-time public school educator with a license to teach.” It adds that “States may provide different social security coverage for part-time and substitute teachers”. Its Kansas row names no exception, so, as we read it, the answer NCES published in 2019 is about full-time licensed teachers. The sources we read do not settle coverage for part-time and substitute jobs, or for jobs with special education cooperatives and service centers, in Kansas; ask SSA about your own record (section 8).

2. KPERS and Social Security: can you collect both?

As we read KPERS’s current member guide, it treats KPERS and Social Security as two parts of one retirement: its Membership Guide for KPERS 1 and KPERS 2 Members (Revised 2/26) says, “KPERS and Social Security won’t be enough for a sound retirement.” A KPERS guide that NCES quoted when it published its data in 2019 said: “KPERS was designed to supplement Social Security benefits and your personal savings.” That sentence is not in KPERS’s current guide, so read it as background, not as KPERS’s current wording.

As we read SSA’s notices, a Social Security benefit based on your own work rests on the earnings on your own record. SSA’s 2026 notice says: “A quarter of coverage is the basic unit for determining if a worker is insured under the Social Security program.” SSA decides each case, so ask SSA what you may receive.

If you start Social Security before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test (section 3, section 4) counts your wages. As we read SSA’s rules, it does not count a KPERS retirement benefit (section 5). KPERS’s rules for taking a job after retirement are a different subject, covered in our KPERS working after retirement guide.

The Social Security Fairness Act: WEP and GPO repealed

The Social Security Fairness Act (Public Law 118-273, approved January 5, 2025) repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) for benefits payable for months after December 2023. The law is an Act “To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the Government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions.” Its effective-date section applies the changes to “monthly insurance benefits payable under title II of the Social Security Act for months after December 2023.” SSA’s page on the Act (last updated July 21, 2025) says: “The Act ends the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).” It adds that “only people who receive a pension based on work not covered by Social Security may see benefit increases.”

SSA’s operating manual (July 2025), on the repealed Windfall Elimination Provision, says: “Beginning with benefits due for January 2024 (paid in February 2024), SSA no longer reduces Social Security benefits based on receipt of pensions from work not covered by Social Security.” On the repealed Government Pension Offset, it says: “SSA no longer offsets Social Security benefits based on receipt of pensions from work not covered by Social Security.” Kansas’s retirement law and KPERS’s own rule require KPERS-covered employees to be covered by Social Security (section 1). As we read the law, the repeal does not by itself make anyone eligible for a Social Security benefit. Ask SSA whether any pension you receive is based on work not covered by Social Security, and how the repeal applies to you.

3. Social Security earnings limit 2026: the test before full retirement age

If you start Social Security retirement benefits before full retirement age and also work, SSA may hold back some of your benefits. SSA’s notice of November 3, 2025 (FR Doc. 2025-19763) sets these figures for 2026:

The earnings test applies only before full retirement age. If you get Social Security disability benefits, other rules apply: SSA says, “If a disabled beneficiary performs any work activity, we look at that activity to determine whether the disability has ceased.” Ask SSA before you take any job.

In SSA’s own words (NRA, normal retirement age, is SSA’s term for full retirement age):

• SSA’s 2026 notice says: “The lower annual exempt amount is $24,480 under the retirement earnings test.” SSA’s earnings-test page adds: “We withhold $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings in excess of the lower exempt amount.”
• SSA’s 2026 notice says: “The higher annual exempt amount is $65,160 under the retirement earnings test.” It explains: “A higher exempt amount applies in the year in which a person attains NRA, but only for earnings in months before such attainment.” SSA’s page adds: “We withhold $1 in benefits for every $3 of earnings in excess of the higher exempt amount.”
• SSA’s page says: “The retirement earnings test applies only to people below normal retirement age (NRA).” Its operating manual says: “Earnings test does not apply to individuals at or above FRA.” (ET is the earnings test; FRA is full retirement age; POMS RS 02501.021.)

Full retirement age is Social Security’s own age, set by your year of birth. SSA’s 2027 notice says: “The NRA is age 66 for those born in 1943–54. It gradually increases to age 67 for those born in 1960 or later.” If you get widow(er)’s benefits, SSA’s manual says: “Always use the FRA for retirement insurance benefits (RIB) when applying the ET for RIB or widow(er)’s insurance benefits (WIB).” (RIB is retirement insurance benefits; WIB is widow(er)’s insurance benefits.) SSA can tell you your own full retirement age, and what happens later to any benefits it withholds under the earnings test.

Your first year of benefits: a monthly test

In your first year of benefits, a monthly limit may apply instead (SSA decides). SSA’s regulation (20 CFR 404.435) calls that year a grace year and says: “A beneficiary’s initial grace year is the first taxable year in which the beneficiary has a non-service month”. It defines the month this way: “A non-service month is any month in which you, while entitled to retirement or survivors benefits:” Then it lists three conditions: “Do not work in self-employment”; “Do not perform services for wages greater than the monthly exempt amount set for that month”; and “Do not work in non-covered remunerative activity on 7 or more days in a month while outside the United States”.

For 2026, SSA’s notice says: “The monthly exempt amounts under the OASDI retirement earnings test for tax years ending in calendar year 2026 will be $2,040 for beneficiaries” who reach full retirement age after 2026, and $5,430 “for those who attain NRA in 2026.” The 2027 monthly amounts are in section 4.

The same regulation allows a further grace year only in the cases it lists. SSA can tell you whether a given year is a grace year for you, so treat the monthly test as something that may apply to you.

4. Social Security earnings limit 2027

SSA published its 2027 figures in the Federal Register on October 26, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-21796). They apply to “tax years ending in calendar year 2027”, so they are the figures for earnings in 2027:

• SSA’s 2027 notice says: “The lower annual exempt amount is $25,560 under the retirement earnings test.” It also says, for 2027: “The higher annual exempt amount is $67,920 under the retirement earnings test.”
• SSA’s Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test page, read on November 1, 2026, shows the same 2027 amounts: “For people attaining NRA after 2027, the annual exempt amount in 2027 is $25,560.” It adds, for 2027: “For people attaining NRA in 2027, the annual exempt amount is $67,920.” and “This higher exempt amount applies only to earnings made in months prior to the month of NRA attainment.”
• For your first year of benefits, SSA’s 2027 notice says: “The monthly exempt amounts under the OASDI retirement earnings test for tax years ending in calendar year 2027 will be $2,130 for beneficiaries” who reach full retirement age after 2027, and $5,660 “for those who attain NRA in 2027.”

The same notice sets the cost-of-living increase. SSA’s Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment page says: “Social Security benefits will increase by 3.6 percent beginning with the December 2026 benefits, which are payable in January 2027.”

SSA sets each year’s amounts in a notice in the Federal Register. When SSA raises benefits effective with the month of December, federal law says SSA’s Commissioner “shall also determine and publish in the Federal Register on or before November 1 of the calendar year” the new exempt amounts (42 U.S.C. 403(f)(8)(A)). The 2027 notice came out on October 26, 2026.

5. Which earnings count, and which do not

SSA counts both wages and net earnings from self-employment. Its regulation says earnings include “the sum of your wages for services rendered in a taxable year, plus your net earnings from self-employment for the taxable year, minus any net loss from self-employment for the same taxable year.” Wages count before deductions: “Wages include the gross amount of your wages rather than the net amount paid after deductions by your employer” (20 CFR 404.429).

As we read SSA’s rules, wages from every job count together, including part-time tutoring pay. Pay from SpecialEdResource is W-2 pay. SpecialEdResource withholds federal income tax and your share of Social Security and Medicare, pays the employer’s half (7.65% of your pay) and carries workers’ comp.

SSA’s manual says: “Do not count bona fide pension payments.” (POMS RS 02505.240, item 57). As we read SSA’s rules, a KPERS retirement benefit is a bona fide pension payment, so it does not count toward the earnings test. SSA decides each case.

SSA’s manual also has a line for teachers: “Count teachers pay in period for which paid if received in a nonwork month.” (POMS RS 02505.240, item 78). Ask SSA how this applies to your last school paychecks.

6. What the 2026 and 2027 limits mean in tutoring hours

The figures below divide SSA’s annual limit before full retirement age ($24,480 in 2026, $25,560 in 2027) by an hourly pay rate, for readers who get Social Security retirement benefits and are under full retirement age for the whole year. They do not predict the hours you would be offered, and they are not a benefit calculation. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

SpecialEdResource’s starting pay is $23/hour, W-2. All tutors can earn a 10% performance bonus in any pay period when they tutor at least 10 hours and turn in session notes on time. In a pay period that earns the bonus, the rate works out to $25.30 an hour.

The right-hand column applies only if every pay period earns the bonus. In a pay period that does not, every hour is paid at $23, so the real figure falls between the two columns. This section converts only the annual limits into hours. The monthly amounts for a grace-year month and the higher amounts for the year you reach full retirement age (section 3, section 4) are given in dollars only.

SSA counts wages from every job and net earnings from self-employment, so other work leaves less room under the limit. These figures are arithmetic, not a promise about your benefits: SSA applies the test to your actual earnings before full retirement age. For your own figures, ask SSA.

7. Social Security credits in 2026 and 2027

Wages that Social Security covers also build your Social Security record. SSA’s 2026 notice says: “The taxable earnings a person must have in 2026 to be credited with a quarter of coverage will be $1,890.” Its 2027 notice says: “The taxable earnings a person must have in 2027 to be credited with a quarter of coverage will be $1,970.” Both notices say: “A quarter of coverage is the basic unit for determining if a worker is insured under the Social Security program.”

As we read SSA’s notices, wages that have Social Security tax withheld, such as SpecialEdResource’s W-2 pay, count toward those credits. How many credits you need, and what they mean for a benefit, is SSA’s decision on your own record.

8. Where to check your own record

For Social Security, SSA decides. Its own pages on these topics are Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test (read November 1, 2026), Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment and Social Security Fairness Act (last updated July 21, 2025). Ask SSA about your own record, your full retirement age and any year that may be a grace year.

For KPERS, KPERS decides. Its rules for working after retirement are covered in our KPERS working after retirement guide. Confirm your own situation with KPERS before you start: call 1-888-275-5737 (toll-free) or 785-296-6166 (in Topeka). KPERS’s contact page says: “InfoLine available weekdays: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.” (read November 1, 2026; the page names no time zone for these hours).