Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for May 22, 2005 TIME TO RETIRE?

An article on teacher retirement in today's Southern Illinoisan...

More teachers opt to cash in on retirement; school districts could pay for it in the end

BY CALEB HALE
THE SOUTHERN

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - A new rule of thumb is being penciled into the recipe for a successful teaching career: Know when to make an exit.

That exit used to come after an educator reached 34 years of service or felt too old to continue in the classroom. These days, however, retiring teachers are treating the event like a photo-finish horse race, thanks to a cloudy horizon in the state retirement system. No one can say whether those clouds mean an approaching storm, but an above-average number of teachers across the state have decided to get out while the getting is good.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich earlier this year proposed sweeping changes to state pensions and teacher retirements in the interest of balancing a difficult state budget. The initiative includes proposed changes to benefits payouts once a person is retired, a cap on salaries for teachers during the last few years of work and an increase of the minimum retirement age, from 55 to 60.

News of the potential changes has sparked movement among teacher ranks.

Illinois Education Association spokesman Charlie McBarron said of the 84,000 full-time teachers the union represents, nearly 6,000 will retire this month. The usual number of retirees per year falls just under 4,000, he said.

"We certainly think there is a relationship," McBarron said about the retirement increase and proposed changes in the system. "There are probably many retiring sooner than they should, because they have a lot to give."

Carterville High School science teacher Ray Kemp, 57, has taught for 32 years. Just short of the minimum retirement age, Kemp is cashing in his unused sick days, under the state's Early Retirement Option, to make up for the remaining two years. The ERO's future subsequently is also in question under plans from state government.

Kemp said he has had a full career as an educator and is satisfied with the job he has done enough to relax. He stands to gain 75 percent of his normal salary each year in retirement, a pretty good deal, as he sees it.

Kemp said he could stay on two more years to boost his retirement earnings, but it wouldn't amount to much more than what he is already getting. Besides, he added, he was always told to retire as soon as you can.

"What teachers really need is energy, and the older you get the less energy you have," Kemp said. "You want teachers to get in, do a good job and get out."

If the state wants to extend the retirement age for the purpose of slowing down the amount of payouts the state makes each year, Kemp said they might start to tax individuals who are too old to give the same quality of teaching to students.

It also strips the teaching profession of one of its most desirable aspects, Kemp added - the ability to retire at a reasonable age.

Kemp is one of 12 teachers in the Carterville school district retiring this year, Superintendent Tim Bleyer said. That number is abnormally high, and he said the individuals represent a great deal of experience lost.

"You just don't replace that," Bleyer said, describing the wave of new younger teachers who will likely replace the veteran ones.

Bleyer agrees the discussion of state officials dipping into teacher retirement for a balanced budget is frightening a number of educators out of the system.

"Rather than run the risk and get caught up in a legislative matter, they're leaving, and I don't blame them," he said. "They can't afford to wait."

McBarron said the average teacher retirement payment is $2,800 a month. That is far from what he called a "princely sum."

He said some state officials only seem to be looking at immediate cost savings, and not the overall effect on education or the teaching profession in Illinois.

"The message we're trying to get across here is to look at the big picture," McBarron said.

Cobden sixth grade teacher Laura Lipe said she decided last year that 2005 would mark the end of her full-time career in education. And, she is leaving not a moment too soon, Lipe said, if the governor's plan for retirement goes into action.

"I am certainly getting out with the benefits I needed to go ahead," Lipe, a 34-year educator, said. "I would not have given up all my years of teaching if I wouldn't have gained the full benefits."

Lipe said it is unfortunate the state wants to balance the budget on the backs of retirees, particularly when the state is guilty of not fully funding its share of pensions for several years running.

With legislative session scheduled to draw to a close soon, it isn't clear the governor's pension cut plan will even take shape. However, the idea that changes were coming might have Illinois paying even more in retirement this year because of the mass exodus of teachers.

John Day, a spokesman for the Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois, said it is difficult to project exactly how many educators will end up leaving work at the end of the school year, hence he can't put a price tag on how much the payout will be.

"We're becoming more and more convinced it's going to be more, but the magnitude has yet to be seen," Day said.