Retirement, health care, and loan forgiveness opportunities for charter school teachers may be slightly different.
Retirement
You have a QPP and a TDA retirement account only if your school participates in TRS; the list of TRS-participant charter schools, as of December 2024, is here.
If your school doesn’t participate in TRS, you won’t get a pension, but you likely have access to a retirement account at your school. It’s probably called a 403(b) or something similar, and has rules similar to the TDA. You might even get an employer match, something TRS teachers do not get. The Uncommon Schools network, for instance, matches employees’ contributions in a 403(b) plan up to 3% of gross payroll or $3,500, whichever is less. Talk to HR to see what you have access to. If you have a match, make sure you’re contributing enough to get the full amount. (That’s basically free money!)
Health insurance
You won’t have the UFT options described above, but your school will provide its own health insurance options. Review them carefully to pick the best one for you. Be sure to ask if you get a health-care FSA and what the rules are for parental leave.
Student loans
You likely qualify for the same PSLF and TLF federal loan forgiveness programs. For PSLF, check if your employer appears in the PSLF employer search tool; for TLF, check if your employer appears in the Teacher Cancellation Low Income (TCLI) Directory1Note that the search function on this directory is chronological (for instance, searching “Park East” will bring up Park East, but not Central Park East), so we have also made a full (and more easily searchable) list of qualifying NY schools.. Or, in either case, ask HR about this.