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In my district you were limited to how much sick leave and personal leave could build up, and limited to how much you would be reimbursed for at retirement.
In my district you were limited to how much sick leave and personal leave could build up, and limited to how much you would be reimbursed for at retirement.
Our common former system didn't care how much you built up (we had one guy retire with 35+ years who had never taken a sick or personal day. Not a single one. He ended up with something like 700 days) but did limit the payout to 250 days at 30%.
I did find out that you "really aren't expected to use it" when I was on terminal leave. They tried to get me on unpaid FMLA every time I updated my paperwork.
Fun Fact:
Auditors absolutely HATE to see unused leave on the books since it's an obligation that can drop at any time and totally screw up the budget.
We had one custodian who retired with over 6000 hours accumulated.
In my district you were limited to how much sick leave and personal leave could build up, and limited to how much you would be reimbursed for at retirement.
We can accumulate leave with no limit. I fall under an "older" plan in which our unused leave is added into the retirement formula. So for example, if I retire with 30 years of leave and have .75 of a year accumulated in leave, the number used in the pension formula for years service would be 30.75.
New teachers do not have this benefit. They forfeit any unused leave when they leave the district.
We can accumulate leave with no limit. I fall under an "older" plan in which our unused leave is added into the retirement formula. So for example, if I retire with 30 years of leave and have .75 of a year accumulated in leave, the number used in the pension formula for years service would be 30.75.
New teachers do not have this benefit. They forfeit any unused leave when they leave the district.
That was the way we did it, added unused to years of service, so I ended up with 32 years credit, 31 classroom years and a year leave credit.
I don't know what new teachers have. They're still in the State Retirement System but need 10 years to vest (57% of teachers leave without a pension vesting, that's a statewide number).
What changed was the system now encourages new teachers to enroll in a 403b plan. When I was hired that was discouraged and teachers who did were "counseled" by their administrator. I don't know why because there was no match.
Now is an extremely difficult time to be a teacher. A standing ovation for all who choose to be in the classrooms! I hope the last few weeks go well for you.
For those of you who are deciding that this is it for you, my respects as well. You will soon begin aging backwards! No longer will you have to know exactly how many minutes you have left before the bell rings. Evenings and weekends will appear as vast opportunities. You can rest on your laurels or sally forth on a new adventure, depending on the circumstances.
I'm about to graduate from the coding academy where I started right after I retired last year due to Covid policies. I had planned to teach until at least age 65 and possibly beyond, but I had to pivot and was very lucky to find this workforce development program headed by a former colleague. Now the plan is to find a job either coding or teaching coding, so I'm going to keep my certificate up to date. The pension has proven to be barely enough to get by (esp. with health insurance >$1000/mo.), so I'm looking forward to being able to live on my new salary and bank 100% of my pension.
I really miss teaching, but there is no conceivable way that I would go back to my old district. The irony is dripping. They recently announced that on top of the $5,000 state pay increase, they would offer a $10,000 signing bonus--$15,000 more than when I left. If the job market is as good as they say it is here for coders, I'll be starting out making more than that. I thought about going to to the district's job fair to see if there were any takers, as the last few were barely attended, but I thought that toying with them might be bad karma. It's possible that I may end up in another state, so it's a good idea to have a current license.
I do hear that all is not well with the kids these days from my former colleagues. But after 36 years I no longer feel a responsibility to do something about it. I more than did my time and finished what I started there.
Now that I'm out in the world I run into my former students all the time, and it's great to see them. I feel like it's my time to finish what I started with computer programming before I set about trying to do something about education.
It's kind of amazing that I can still learn at the fast clip that we keep up in the academy, considering that there is only a quarter of us left. Not only am I older than all my classmates, I'm older than most of their parents! I haven't had a job interview in their lifetimes! I think every day of my mother, who finally retired at 79 and who still plays golf and works in the yard at 88. I hope to have another ten years to put in, and I still won't come close to her.
I'm leaving teaching but I'm basically at the date I'd always planned on retiring. Covid did have a little influence but really I'm simply tired of grading. If I could do the teaching but have a TA grade everything I'd probably stay a few more years.
I mentioned earlier that I’m considering retiring a couple of years early and that student behaviors and job expectations are reasons why. I’ll elaborate.
I have a difficult time planning, implementing and managing the classroom in the way that’s expected of us. We are supposed to have a daily morning meeting (greeting, share, activity and message), math focus lesson, math workshop station rotations, math small group lessons, a well planned intervention block with small groups, a writing focus lesson, individual writing conferences, reading focus lesson, reading workshop activities and small group lessons, and then social studies/science/health. I have to hunt for much of the activities I use for stations and groups. With the amount of time we have to plan it’s rare that I have everything well planned and ready and it turns into trying to just keep my head above water. On our schedule there is an hour and 10 minute timeframe that includes the math and intervention blocks during which I am supposed to be meeting with small groups and the other students are working independently. I’ve had to adjust that because this class can’t do that without behavior problems arising. It’s too much to monitor.
Of course I didn’t include any time for grading, record keeping, reading emails, and attending to other administrative tasks.
If I were young or didn't have a family to support, I would be out. I'm basically trapped. I'm at top of the payscale. At almost 50, I have a lot of skin in the game for retirement/pension. I would need to jump into a 6-figure job to break even. I'll keep my head down, do my job as best I can, and let direct deposit hit my account every 2 week. It is was it is.
If I were young or didn't have a family to support, I would be out. I'm basically trapped. I'm at top of the payscale. At almost 50, I have a lot of skin in the game for retirement/pension. I would need to jump into a 6-figure job to break even. I'll keep my head down, do my job as best I can, and let direct deposit hit my account every 2 week. It is was it is.
If I were young or didn't have a family to support, I would be out. I'm basically trapped. I'm at top of the payscale. At almost 50, I have a lot of skin in the game for retirement/pension. I would need to jump into a 6-figure job to break even. I'll keep my head down, do my job as best I can, and let direct deposit hit my account every 2 week. It is was it is.
I was the same way (trapped). I started out in a successful school, then busing came along and destroyed it. For years I wrestled with the thought of quitting, especially after a rough day, but I hung in there for 32 years. My city had 14 school districts so I couldn't move without taking a big hit and losing tenure.
Glad I stayed because now I have a decent pension that will support me for the rest of my life. Upon retirement, 8 years ago, I moved to an oceanfront condo in Maui. (Just paid it off yesterday. )
Currently, I substitute teach for pocket money and the kids are awesome here.
This is my 40th year in the classroom.
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