Only 3 Opt For Retirement Bonus?

As part of the SPEA contracted approved by the school board this past June --just prior to removal of the QEO as part of the state budget -- a clause was provided that offered teaching staff a one-time $6,000 "bonus" for those that opted to officially notify the school district of their plans to retire by October 15. This early notification date is in lieu of the normal spring deadline.

Ostensibly, the plan was designed to encourage some of the more tenured staff, whose salaries made up a larger chunk of the district "salary pie", to retire. This would effectively reduce the district's salary burden (which accounts for about 85% of the operating budget) for next year as, theoretically, the staff would be replaced by younger --lower salaried-- staff.

Unfortunately, it looks like only 3 came forward. Still, this would effectively remove approximately $ 328,000 (in terms of salary and benefits) from the budget, to be replaced by about $144,000 in new salaries, a net reduction from the budget of roughly $184,000.

Disclaimer: Because the district will claim our data is completely false, we will provide you all the facts. The staff salaries at retirement are real...taken directly from the school board package. We assumed benefits as 50% of salary, which is a rough approximation. Every individual is different based on their choices for health care coverage. We also assumed a salary of $32,000 for the replacement positions. We'll see what actually happens.

Personnel not through Human Resources Committee – 2009/10 Retirements
Position Title....................Location..........Base Salary
Language Arts Teacher..........High School......$72,478
Family/Consumer Ed. Teacher....High School......$66,866
Kindergarten Teacher...........Royal Oaks.......$79,015