Part-time tutoring jobs for retired teachers in Kansas

Part-time jobs for retired teachers: what online tutoring looks like

If you live in Kansas, you can apply: it is one of the 15 states where SpecialEdResource can currently employ tutors. Retired teachers anywhere in the state are welcome. You’d tutor one student at a time, in live, one-on-one online sessions with students who have IEPs, 504 plans and learning differences. It’s part-time W-2 employment, and training is paid.

Our greatest need is weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern: that is 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Central in most of Kansas, and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mountain in Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton counties. Evening and weekend tutors are welcome too: tell us when you can teach. We ask for at least five hours a week of availability, and tutors work 5 to 25 hours a week. We ask which grade levels and disability categories you have worked with, and match students to fit. You decide which students you want to work with. How many students you start with is very flexible and mainly up to you. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

Each student has sessions with you an average of 2 to 3 times a week, and a session usually lasts 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1 hour. Most students keep meeting through summer and school breaks.

SpecialEdResource provides subscribed online resources and SpecialEdResource-created resources, and you choose and adapt materials for each student, because every child differs. You have a real person you can text or email when something comes up. Onboarding is paid, including about an hour of platform training. From hire to your first session could be a week or two.

See the full job description

Tutoring income: what the job pays

Starting pay: $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.

You're paid for tutoring time. Prep and notes are not paid separately; the session rate covers them. SpecialEdResource provides AI summary tools that make note-writing mostly copy and paste.

Pay, the bonus and the schedule, in detail

Working after retirement: KPERS, your license and Social Security

Three things to check before you tutor after retiring. Each has a guide with the details.

1. Your KPERS retirement benefit. What KPERS’s Working After Retirement rules mean for you depends on who you work for. Here is what KPERS’s documents and Kansas law say about three kinds of work:

   Work	What KPERS’s rules say
   Work for an employer that is not a KPERS participating employer	KPERS’s Membership Guide for KPERS 1 and KPERS 2 Members (Revised 2/26) says: “There are a few things you need to know if you go back to work for a KPERS employer, even if it’s different than the one you retired from.” It adds that “working for a third-party entity that contracts with a KPERS employer means these rules will apply to you, too.” and: “These rules don’t apply if you work for a non-KPERS employer.” That last sentence has conditions. Kansas law says a participating employer “means an eligible employer who has agreed to make contributions to the system on behalf of its employees;” (K.S.A. 74-4902(24)). The State of Kansas is one by law: “The state of Kansas in its capacity as an eligible employer, shall become, by operation of law, a participating employer” (K.S.A. 74-4910). So are Kansas school employers: “(1) Kansas public school districts; (2) Kansas technical colleges; (3) Kansas community junior colleges;” (K.S.A. 74-4931). Counties, cities and other local units can join: “An eligible employer may join the system on January 1 of any year.” Work through a company can count as work for such an employer: Kansas law writes its rules for a retiree hired by a participating employer “or an independent contractor or a third-party entity who contracts service to fill such covered position” (K.S.A. 74-4914(9)(a)). For work with a KPERS employer, KPERS says: “Kansas law requires a 60-day waiting period (180-day if retiring before age 62) for KPERS retirees who return to work for Retirement System employers.” “This also includes returning to a position covered by the Kansas Board of Regents Mandatory Retirement Plan.” “Your waiting period begins the day after your retirement date.” “Your retirement date is always the first day of a month.” Kansas law’s test is your age on your retirement date: it writes the rule for a retiree “retired more than 60 days, if such retirant’s age on the date of retirement is 62 or older,” “or is retired more than 180 days, if such retirant’s age on the date of retirement is less than 62,” (K.S.A. 74-4914(9)). KPERS also says: “Before retirement and during your waiting period, you can’t have a prearranged agreement to return to work.” and, in its 2024 memo to the Legislature, “Before retirement and during the waiting period, retirees and employers cannot communicate in any way about returning to work.” “If you are found to have a prearrangement to return to work, your retirement benefit will be suspended.” “This would start the month you return to work and end 6 months after you quit working.” Kansas law adds: “The retirant shall repay to the retirement system all monthly retirement benefits paid to the retirant by the retirement system that the retirant received after such employment began.” Substitute teaching: Kansas law lists retirants “employed as substitute teachers without a contract” among those its earnings-limit and employer-contribution provisions do not apply to (K.S.A. 74-4914(6)(b)(v), (9)(d)), and KPERS’s employer manual puts “Sub teachers without a contract” under “Exceptions (Do Not Enroll)” that “Still must follow ‘no-prearrangement’ and waiting-period rules”. After the waiting period, for a retiree hired without a prearranged agreement (K.S.A. 74-4914(9)), KPERS says: “There is no earnings limit if you go back to work for a KPERS employer.” “But your employer will make working-after-retirement contributions to KPERS if you’re in a covered position.” Since July 1, 2024, Kansas law has the employer pay “the statutorily prescribed employer contribution rate on the first $40,000 of such retirant’s compensation in a calendar year” “and a 30% employer contribution on any compensation in excess of $40,000 in a calendar year during any such period of employment.” (K.S.A. 74-4914(9)(a)). KPERS told the Legislature: “Some employers may adjust the salary paid to a retiree to shift the cost of the contributions to the retiree,” “but statutorily the contribution is an employer contribution.” Kansas law also says: “No retirant shall make contributions to the system or receive service credit for any service after the date of retirement.” If you receive KPERS long-term disability benefits, your limits are different. KPERS’s Long-Term Disability Benefits Summary Plan Description says: “Disability benefits will be reduced by income the member receives or is eligible to receive from any of these sources:” among them “Earnings from any form of employment.” and “Earnings from eligible rehabilitative employment.” It says: “Benefit payments under this plan will terminate if the member:” among them “Is no longer disabled as defined in this plan.” and “Is not working to their maximum capacity if participating in rehabilitative employment.” Its definition of disability: “For the first 24 months for which benefits are paid, the member is unable to perform the material and substantial duties of their usual occupation due to sickness or injury.” “After benefits have been paid for 24 months, the member is unable to perform the material and substantial duties of any gainful occupation due to sickness or injury.” It adds: “Benefit payments under this plan will also be terminated if:” “During the first 24 months for which benefits are paid, earnings from any form of employment exceed 80% of the member’s rate of compensation at the time of disability.” “After the first 24 months for which benefits are paid, earnings from any form of employment exceed 60% of the member’s rate of compensation at the time of disability.” On rehabilitative employment it says: “Following a period of total disability, a member may qualify for disability benefits while engaging in rehabilitative employment.” “Monthly benefits will be reduced by 50% of the member’s disability earnings during the first 12 months of rehabilitative employment.” “Monthly benefits will be reduced by 75% of the member’s disability earnings during the second 12 months of rehabilitative employment.” “The maximum benefit period for rehabilitative employment benefits is 24 months.” The plan also says: “To be eligible for KPERS disability benefits, the member must apply for Social Security disability benefits,” and if you get Social Security disability benefits, SSA says: “If a disabled beneficiary performs any work activity, we look at that activity to determine whether the disability has ceased.” Kansas law ends KPERS long-term disability benefits at age 65 or at retirement, whichever comes first, for a member who becomes eligible for them before age 60, and after five years of benefits or at retirement for one who becomes eligible at 60 or older (K.S.A. 74-4927). 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). Go to that guide section
   Work for a KPERS participating employer (such as a Kansas public school district, technical college or community college), hired directly or through a contractor or third party	For work with a KPERS employer, KPERS says: “Kansas law requires a 60-day waiting period (180-day if retiring before age 62) for KPERS retirees who return to work for Retirement System employers.” “This also includes returning to a position covered by the Kansas Board of Regents Mandatory Retirement Plan.” The no-prearrangement rule and its penalty, substitute teaching, the employer’s contributions and work through a contractor or third party, each with its conditions in KPERS’s and Kansas law’s words, are in our KPERS working after retirement guide. Go to that guide section
   Members receiving KPERS long-term disability benefits	If you receive KPERS long-term disability benefits, your limits are different. KPERS’s plan rules on earnings from work and on when benefits end, in KPERS’s and Kansas law’s own words, are in section 6 of our KPERS working after retirement guide, and the first row of this table prints them too. Go to that guide section

   Confirm your own situation with KPERS (1-888-275-5737) before you start.

   Sources: KPERS’s Membership Guide for KPERS 1 and KPERS 2 Members (Revised 2/26), its Working After Retirement page, its Employer Manual: Working After Retirement (Revised: 12/25), its Long-Term Disability Benefits Summary Plan Description, its memo to a Kansas Senate committee (March 13, 2024), its contact page (read November 1, 2026), SSA’s operating manual on the earnings test, and Kansas law: K.S.A. 74-4902, K.S.A. 74-4910, K.S.A. 74-4914, K.S.A. 74-4927 and K.S.A. 74-4931. More detail on each rule, in KPERS’s own words, is in our KPERS working after retirement guide.

2. Your teaching license. SpecialEdResource asks for special education certification and a teaching license from any US state, with the license current, or renewed before you start. Our application’s license question says:

   Answer Yes if your license is current, or if it has expired or is inactive and you’ll renew it before you start. We check licenses before the first interview.

   If you hold a Kansas license and want to renew it, the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) says on its license page: “If you are in a Kansas or other state educational retirement system:” “Complete half the professional development points required in Option B.” KSDE’s renewal questions and answers (“Teacher Licensure updated as of 9/12/24”), as reprinted in the five district professional development plans the State Board approved in February 2026, put it at 80 points (40 of them college credit) with a bachelor’s degree, or 60 with a graduate degree. KSDE’s license page and Kansas’s renewal regulation themselves don’t say whether a retired teacher counts as being in such a system, so ask KSDE at (785) 296-2288 or TLALicense@ksde.gov. The points, the other ways to renew and an expired license are explained in our Kansas teaching license guide.

3. Social Security, if you’re under full retirement age. If you get Social Security and are under full retirement age for all of 2026, SSA’s 2026 earnings limit is $24,480, and wages from every job, plus any net earnings from self-employment, count. For 2027, that limit is $25,560. SSA says: “We withhold $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings in excess of the lower exempt amount.” In the year you reach full retirement age, a higher limit applies. SSA’s operating manual says “Do not count bona fide pension payments.” As we read SSA’s rules, that covers a KPERS retirement benefit. What the limits mean in tutoring hours is below. 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. Whether you paid in, and how KPERS and Social Security fit together, are in our Social Security guide. Sources: SSA’s notices of the 2026 amounts (FR Doc. 2025-19763, November 3, 2025) and the 2027 amounts (FR Doc. 2026-21796, October 26, 2026), its page Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test (read November 1, 2026), its operating manual on the earnings test and on which earnings count, the federal regulation that defines earnings (20 CFR 404.429), NCES’s data on teachers’ Social Security coverage, K.S.A. 74-4902(13) and KPERS’s regulation K.A.R. 80-1-7.

What do the 2026 and 2027 earnings limits mean in tutoring hours?

If you get Social Security and are under full retirement age for all of 2026, the 2026 limit is $24,480. At $23 an hour, that is about 1,064 hours of tutoring in 2026. At $25.30, the rate in a pay period that earns the bonus, it is about 968 hours. For 2027, the limit is $25,560: about 1,111 hours at $23, or about 1,010 at $25.30. The $25.30 figures hold 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.

This is arithmetic, not a schedule or a promise. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit, and wages from any other job, plus any net earnings from self-employment, count toward the same limit. 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. These are SSA’s 2026 and 2027 figures; SSA published the 2027 amounts on October 26, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-21796). In your first year of benefits, a monthly limit may apply instead (SSA decides). Our Social Security guide covers both points.

Questions about tutoring after retirement

Can a retired teacher work in Kansas?

Yes. KPERS has rules for going back to work, and they depend on who you work for. For work with a KPERS employer, such as a Kansas public school district, KPERS says: “Kansas law requires a 60-day waiting period (180-day if retiring before age 62) for KPERS retirees who return to work for Retirement System employers.” “This also includes returning to a position covered by the Kansas Board of Regents Mandatory Retirement Plan.” “Your waiting period begins the day after your retirement date.” and “Before retirement and during your waiting period, you can’t have a prearranged agreement to return to work.” Its membership guide adds that “working for a third-party entity that contracts with a KPERS employer means these rules will apply to you, too.” What the guide says about employers that are not KPERS employers, with its conditions, is in the first row of the table above and in section 1 of our KPERS working after retirement guide. If you receive KPERS long-term disability benefits, read section 6 of that guide first: KPERS’s plan reduces the benefit by earnings from any form of employment, and ends payments if you are no longer disabled as the plan defines it. None of the KPERS or KSDE texts we read mentions tutoring. Ask KPERS how its rules apply to tutoring with SpecialEdResource.

My Kansas teaching license has expired. Can I still apply?

Yes. If your license has expired or is inactive, you can still apply, as long as you’ll renew it before you start. Kansas’s renewal regulation says: “Any person who fails to renew the professional license may apply for a subsequent professional license by meeting the following requirements:” an application for a license with the licensure fee, and proof that you either met the professional license renewal requirements or have at least three years of recent out-of-state accredited experience under an initial or professional license (K.A.R. 91-1-205). KSDE’s fingerprint page lists “Renewal of an expired Kansas certificate or license.” among the cases that need fingerprints, and says: “Effective July 1, 2024, the fingerprint background check processing fee has increased to $57.” KSDE adds: “KSDE does not keep copies of expired licenses.” The steps are in our Kansas teaching license guide.

Is this a W-2 job?

Yes. You’d be a part-time W-2 employee. 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. You get a W-2 each January. If you get Social Security and are under full retirement age, these wages count toward the earnings test.