Price of early retirement
State Rep. Peter J. Daley plans to reintroduce legislation that would lower the retirement age for Pennsylvania’s public school teachers. Money is the reason behind Daley’s 30-and-out bill that shaves five years off the minimum number of years. He correctly figures that with the exodus of the most senior teachers, school districts could then hire new teachers at the bottom of the pay scale and initially incur substantial savings. But at what cost? An Associated Press story this week reported that the Corry Area School District had similar savings in mind when it offered a $15,000 early-retirement incentive to its administrators and teachers with 30 years service. Each one opting to retire would save the district $20,000 in the first year. What happened though is that half of the 11 administrators and 20 of the 185 teachers tendered their resignations. Now Corry must contend with a brain drain and scramble to find replacement teachers.
Some areas of Pennsylvania already have a difficult time attracting teachers; so the pinch could become sharper if Daley’s bill finds success and all 501 districts are competing for a limited number of new teachers. Further, students could be shortchanged in that even the most enthusiastic and brightest of the new teachers still fall short of necessary experience. With fewer tenured teachers around to mentor the novices, early-retirement savings will be no bargain if students’ achievements drop.
Practices can be put in place to guide schools through the rough spots should they be faced with a number of new teachers. And, after a couple years mass retirements would no longer be the norm as the system levels out with teachers planning for a 30, rather than a 35-year career.
But the impact on the classrooms needs to be considered, as does the financial impact on the state retirement system. Daley said that actuarial information shows that the system could handle 30-and-out. But then lawmakers said the same when they agreed to boost pensions in 2001 only to then surprise the school districts with larger bills to subsidize the retirement plan.
Careful consideration for both short and long-term repercussions needs to be weighed against any potential savings before action is taken on Daley’s bill.