The Teachers Union and the Culver City USD have settled negotiations early this year, agreeing to try once again to entice some of the School District’s higher salaried teachers to retire early.
This year, they agreed on setting the payout trigger at 10 teachers (down from 12 last year), sweetening last year’s incentive by doubling it to $20,000. Last year only nine teachers chose to sign up for the early program. That was not enough for the District to offer them its proposed incentive for early retirement.
Comparing Dollars
Twenty thousand dollars does sound like a lot of money, by itself. That is peanuts, though, when teachers contemplating early retirement compare it to what they could receive after leaving. By remaining on the job for the next three years and receiving the rest of the District’s already proposed raises, these teachers could receive pay raises amounting to over 35 percent more in salary. Then they could retire receiving as much as $15,000 more each year in their pensions for the rest of their lives.
Mathematically, a No-Brainer
You cannot expect a teacher to be induced by this onetime $20,000 offer when staying on three more years would give him or her an additional $30,000 more in the first two years of retirement and $15,000 more each year thereafter. Bidding Against Yourself
If it is that advantageous of a cost-savings measure for our School District to have teachers retire early, either the District gives these teachers a real incentive, something they cannot refuse, or quit sending mixed messages by handing out lucrative raises that are so counterintuitive.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
