Wisconsin Teachers Weighing Early Retirement vs. Uncertainty (WI)

April 18, 2011

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that seasoned educators in Wisconsin faced a tough choice this April: leave a job they love to secure retirement benefits under their current contract or keep working and gamble on what the union could get for them later.

The risk of losing early retirement benefits such as health insurance seems to have swayed many people who would otherwise have to deal with the gap between leaving work and becoming eligible for Medicare themselves. Some school districts are reporting retirement figures of double, or even triple, those of last year.

The rush to early retirement is due to Governor Scott Walker’s plan to eliminate most collective bargaining for teachers and to increase the health care and pension cost payments of state employees.

    “The amount of experience and expertise that walks out the door with these retirements is going to be impossible to replace,” said Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

District officials, however, are downplaying the talent cost by focusing on the financial benefits of increased retirement figures in a tough fiscal year. Replacing some of their highest-paid employees with new teachers on lower salaries will save money and help address budget shortfalls which will in turn reduce the number of layoffs necessary.