Do Arkansas teachers pay Social Security? ATRS and the 2026 earnings limit

1. Do Arkansas teachers pay into Social Security?

ATRS answers for Arkansas public-school employees as a group. In an update from its executive director, ATRS says: “In 1951, our Legislature approved Act 248 which provided that all public-school employees in Arkansas would participate in Social Security.” The update shows no date; its text covers ATRS’s 2024 cost-of-living increase. ATRS’s current member handbook and Retirement FAQ do not repeat that sentence, but the FAQ does say that ATRS retirees draw both benefits (section 2).

The Arkansas Supreme Court described the same law in 1956. In its words, Act 248 of 1951 “provides for participation by employees of the State and its political subdivisions in the benefits provided by the federal Social Security Act” (Arkansas State Highway Commission v. Clayton, 226 Ark. 712).

ATRS’s sentence is about public-school employees. It does not mean that every Arkansas public job is covered, and in 2021 not every one was. A 2021 resolution of the Arkansas General Assembly (Senate Concurrent Resolution 1, approved by the Governor on February 10, 2021) said that, under the state’s agreement with the federal government, members of the General Assembly “are excluded from paying Social Security taxes on the salary” they were paid as legislators. It asked for a referendum on whether a majority of the members want full Social Security coverage. We did not find whether that referendum was held.

Federal data point the same way for teachers. The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sorts the states by whether their teachers have Social Security coverage. Its map lists Arkansas among the 33 states it counts as opting in to Social Security, not among the states where coverage is mixed by school district. The map shows no data year.

ATRS’s update also contrasts Arkansas with nearby states: “in our neighboring states of Texas, Missouri, and Louisiana, full-time public-school teachers generally do not receive Social Security benefits when they retire”. If you taught in one of those states before Arkansas, that part of your career may not have been covered by Social Security (section 2).

To check your own record, ask SSA. ATRS’s retirement planner points members there: “For general information on drawing Social Security, go to https://ssa.gov/retirement.”

2. An ATRS pension and Social Security

ATRS’s Retirement FAQ answers the question directly: “ATRS does not reduce its benefits once you become eligible for Social Security.” It adds: “ATRS retirees have the double benefit of both ATRS lifetime benefits and Social Security benefits.”

Two federal provisions that reduced some Social Security benefits are gone: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Public Law 118-273, the Social Security Fairness Act, was approved January 5, 2025. It is an Act “To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the Government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions.” Its changes apply “with respect to monthly insurance benefits payable under title II of the Social Security Act for months after December 2023.”

The U.S. Code’s notes record what the repeal removed: “Pub. L. 118–273, §3(a)(1), struck out par. (7) which reduced Social Security benefits pursuant to the Windfall Elimination Provision.” (42 U.S.C. 415, 2024 edition). Before the repeal, that paragraph reached a person with a pension “based in whole or in part upon his or her earnings for service which did not constitute ‘employment’” as the Social Security Act defines it (42 U.S.C. 415(a)(7)(A), 2023 edition).

As we read these texts, the repeal matters most to people whose pension came at least partly from work that Social Security did not cover, such as years of teaching in a state whose public-school teachers are not covered (section 1). Ask SSA how the change applies to your own benefit.

If you start Social Security before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test in section 3 counts your wages. As we read SSA’s rules, it does not count your ATRS pension (section 4).

3. The 2026 earnings 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 for 2026 says: “We withhold Social Security benefits when a beneficiary under the NRA has earnings more than the applicable retirement earnings test exempt amount.” NRA, normal retirement age, is the notice’s term for full retirement age.

SSA’s notice of November 3, 2025 (90 FR 49047) sets these figures for 2026:

SSA’s earnings test is for Social Security retirement, dependent and survivor benefits. If you get Social Security disability insurance, or a widow(er)’s or child’s benefit because you are disabled, ask SSA before you take any job. SSA’s operating manual says the earnings test generally does not apply to disabled beneficiaries. It names three kinds: “Disability insurance benefits (DIB)”, “Disabled widow(er) benefits (DWB)” and “Childhood disability benefits (CDB)”. For them, it says: “If a disabled beneficiary performs any work activity, we look at that activity to determine whether the disability has ceased.” (POMS RS 02501.021).

In SSA’s own words:

• “The lower annual exempt amount is $24,480 under the retirement earnings test.” Above it: “For all other beneficiaries under NRA, we withhold $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings over the annual exempt amount.”
• “The higher annual exempt amount is $65,160 under the retirement earnings test.” It applies “in the year in which a person attains NRA, but only for earnings in months before such attainment.” For those months, “we withhold $1 in benefits for every $3 of earnings over the annual exempt amount for months before NRA.”
• At full retirement age the test stops. SSA’s operating manual says: “Effective 1/2000, the ET no longer applies to a beneficiary beginning in the month they attain FRA.” (ET is the earnings test; FRA is full retirement age; POMS RS 02501.021.)

When is full retirement age? SSA’s 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.” This is not ATRS’s Normal Retirement Age. ATRS’s Normal Retirement Age is 65 with at least 5 years of service, or at least 60 when your age plus your years of service add up to 98 or more. That is ATRS’s own rule, and our ATRS guide covers it.

What happens to the benefits SSA withholds? SSA’s operating manual says that any month in which some or all of your benefits were withheld for excess earnings becomes a crediting month, and: “A higher monthly benefit due to crediting months will be realized at FRA.” (FRA is full retirement age; POMS RS 02501.021.) Ask SSA what this would mean for your own benefit.

4. Which earnings count, and which do not

Federal law defines a year’s earnings for the test as “the sum of his wages for services rendered in such year and his net earnings from self-employment for such year”, minus any net loss from self-employment (42 U.S.C. 403(f)(5)(A)). Wages count before deductions. SSA’s regulation says: “Wages include the gross amount of your wages rather than the net amount paid after deductions by your employer” (20 CFR 404.429(c)).

Wages from any employer count, including work in the United States that Social Security does not cover. SSA’s operating manual lists “Wages from non-covered employment performed in the United States” (POMS RS 02505.005). Pay from SpecialEdResource is W-2 pay, and SpecialEdResource withholds your share of Social Security and Medicare from it. As we read these rules, part-time tutoring pay counts as wages for the test, together with pay from any other job.

Your ATRS pension does not count. SSA’s manual says: “Do not count bona fide pension payments.” (POMS RS 02505.240, item 57). As we read it, that covers an ATRS retirement benefit.

If you start Social Security partway through a year and are under full retirement age all that year, SSA counts your earnings for the whole year. Its manual says: “If under FRA, count the beneficiary’s earnings for all months of their taxable year to determine excess earnings even though they may not be entitled to benefits during all the months of that year” (POMS RS 02501.021). As we read it, if you retire from teaching and start Social Security in the same year, school pay you earned earlier that year counts toward that year’s annual limit. Your grace year may use a monthly test instead (section 5).

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.

ATRS’s own rules are a separate question

Social Security’s earnings test is not an ATRS rule, and ATRS’s rules for working after retirement are not SSA’s. Our guide to ATRS’s return-to-work rules covers them. One of them matters to anyone who has just retired: it is about work for ATRS covered employers, including substitute teaching. If you took an age-and-service retirement and were not at ATRS’s Normal Retirement Age when you retired, ATRS bars that work during your four-month termination separation period. That period is counted from your effective retirement date, which is always the first day of a month, not your last day of work. ATRS’s Normal Retirement Age is 65 with at least 5 years of service, or at least 60 when your age plus your years of service add up to 98 or more. During that period you also may not apply for that work or arrange it for later: ATRS’s Working and Retirement page says “You CANNOT APPLY for a job with an ATRS covered employer during the termination separation period.” The ATRS Member Handbook 2026-2027 adds: “you should always contact ATRS for guidance if you are considering working during your termination separation period.” If you retired from ATRS by disability, ask ATRS before taking any job. Confirm your own situation with ATRS at (501) 682-1517 or info@artrs.gov.

5. Your grace year: the monthly test

Your grace year can work differently. SSA’s regulation says: “We will not reduce your benefits on account of excess earnings for any month in which you, the beneficiary” meet one of its conditions. One is a non-service month: a month in which, while entitled to benefits, you “Do not perform services for wages greater than the monthly exempt amount set for that month” and do not work in self-employment (20 CFR 404.435(a)). The regulation adds one more condition, about work outside the United States.

For 2026, the monthly amount is $2,040 for people who reach full retirement age after 2026: “The monthly exempt amounts under the OASDI retirement earnings test for tax years ending in calendar year 2026 will be $2,040”. For people who reach full retirement age in 2026, the same notice sets a monthly amount of $5,430: “and $5,430 for those who attain NRA in 2026.”

The grace year follows your Social Security, not your last school day. The regulation says: “A beneficiary’s initial grace year is the first taxable year in which the beneficiary has a non-service month”, counting months “in or after the month in which the beneficiary is entitled to a retirement, auxiliary, or survivor’s benefit”. As we read it, if you retire from teaching in May and start Social Security in a later year, your grace year comes later too.

After the grace year, the yearly test applies again. The regulation’s example says: “However, in the years that follow, up to the year of full retirement age, only the annual earnings test will be applied”. SSA can tell you whether a given year is your grace year, so treat the monthly test as something that may apply to you.

6. What the limit means in tutoring hours

The figures below divide SSA’s 2026 annual limit of $24,480, the limit before full retirement age, by an hourly pay rate, for readers who get Social Security retirement benefits and are under full retirement age for all of 2026. 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 that limit into hours. The $2,040 amount for a grace-year month (section 5) and the $65,160 amount for the year you reach full retirement age (section 3) are given in dollars only.

SSA counts wages from every job, so other work leaves less room under the limit. Nothing here means a particular schedule keeps you under it: SSA applies the test to your actual earnings before full retirement age. For your own figures, ask SSA.

7. When the 2027 figures come out

The amounts on this page are SSA’s figures for 2026, for “tax years ending in calendar year 2026”. SSA sets each new year’s amounts in its yearly “Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations” notice in the Federal Register, published in the fall; the notice for 2026 came out on November 3, 2025. This guide does not list 2027 amounts. For 2027, use SSA’s notice for 2027 once it is published, or ask SSA.