Full-time employees in the Abilene school district can be rewarded for retiring, receiving up to 10 percent of the annual salary as a lovely parting gift. They can also receive up to $70 a day for unused sick time, with a maximum of a $12,500 payout for both bonus and sick time, the Abilene Reporter-News explains.
And the district claims it’s saving money because the buyouts will enable it to move less experienced workers into jobs previously held by veterans for about a $20,000-per-worker savings. Retirees taking the incentive are required to have at least 10 years of experience, with five of those years in the Abilene district.
Those eligible are “full-time teachers, administrators, librarians, counselors, instructional specialists, instructional coordinators and nurses.” The district estimates 55 employees have qualified.
What goes unmentioned is the pension that these employees will get, keeping taxpayers on the hook for an amount the district doesn’t mention.
Teachers in the system before September 1, 2007, can collect a full pension at age 65 with five years of service, or with any combination of age and service that totals 80, with a minimum of five years service.
Using the calculator at the website of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, we tried a few scenarios.
A retiree aged 65 with 10 years of service and whose five highest earning years ranged between $58,000 and $45,000, with a beneficiary aged 53, will make a standard annuity of $944 a month. For 20 years of experience that moves up to $1,887 a month. And we haven’t even talked about lucrative contracts or double dipping possibilities.
The dictates of Abilene’s program appear to make it a severance package where there was none before. Of course the early notice helps with planning and hiring. And that makes life easier for administrators.
Those eligible are “full-time teachers, administrators, librarians, counselors, instructional specialists, instructional coordinators and nurses.” The district estimates 55 employees have qualified.
What goes unmentioned is the pension that these employees will get, keeping taxpayers on the hook for an amount the district doesn’t mention.
Teachers in the system before September 1, 2007, can collect a full pension at age 65 with five years of service, or with any combination of age and service that totals 80, with a minimum of five years service.
Using the calculator at the website of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, we tried a few scenarios.
A retiree aged 65 with 10 years of service and whose five highest earning years ranged between $58,000 and $45,000, with a beneficiary aged 53, will make a standard annuity of $944 a month. For 20 years of experience that moves up to $1,887 a month. And we haven’t even talked about lucrative contracts or double dipping possibilities.
The dictates of Abilene’s program appear to make it a severance package where there was none before. Of course the early notice helps with planning and hiring. And that makes life easier for administrators.
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Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Photo of school bus by flickr user sunchild_dd, used via a Creative Commons license.
Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Photo of school bus by flickr user sunchild_dd, used via a Creative Commons license.
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