Office of Educator Licensure

Critical Shortage Waiver Update 2022/2023

On June 7, Governor Baker signed Chapter 80 of the Acts of 2022, which suspends the limits on post-retirement work in the Massachusetts public sector through the end of calendar year 2022 or 90 days after the end of the public health emergency declared on May 28, 2021, whichever occurs first. Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System retirees are allowed to work without restrictions during this time. As a result, Critical Shortage Waiver requests do not need to be submitted to DESE for employment for the remainder of calendar year 2022.

Note: The suspension of hours and earnings limits for 2022 does not apply to retirees who are receiving accidental or ordinary disability retirement benefits.

Note: If a retiree is hired to begin working at the beginning of the 2022/23 school year and a Critical Shortage Waiver is later requested to cover 1/1/2023 – 6/30/2023, the Office of Educator Licensure's expectation is that in order to demonstrate a good-faith effort to find an appropriately licensed, non-retired candidate, we need to see that the position was advertised in at least two publicly accessible resources for at least 2 weeks, sometime within the 2022 calendar year.