The Boyertown Area School District will be offering early retirement incentives for teachers departing at the end of the current school year.
The school board voted Tuesday, March 24, to enact the recommendations made by the administration to offer the incentives as a cost-saving effort for the 2015-2016 budget.
“We’re extremely excited about it, given this difficult budget season, not knowing what is going to happen at the state level. Based on what we’re hearing from Harrisburg, it’s going to be a while before we know,” said Superintendent Richard Faidley. “This incentive is going to save $295,000 for the 2015-16 budget.”
The district will offer teachers $15,000 to retire at the end of this school year. At least six teachers have to accept the offer for it to take effect.
Faidley said the administration’s research had indicated that there are at least six teachers willing to take the incentive.
The offer will also extend to teachers who have already submitted for retirement at the end of the school year. The estimated $147,000 expense of the incentive will come out of the current school year’s budget, while the savings will be subtracted from next year’s.
The teachers who retire are higher on the pay scale and many have master’s degrees, and will be replaced with younger teachers who have bachelor’s degrees. These younger teachers come at less expense to the district.
Board member Paul Stengle questioned the choice.
“Is it for the taxpayers or is it for the students?” Stengle asked. “I don’t see losing six master’s teachers as being for the students.”
Though the incentives were recommended by administration, the measure did not pass a vote at a finance committee meeting to be placed on the board’s agenda for approval. It was instead brought to vote via a motion by Board Member Barbara Hartford during the Old Business portion of the agenda.
Faidley explained that several members were absent from the finance committee, and had been filled in on the incentives recommendation. The board voted 6-3 in favor of the incentives, with board members Christine Neiman, Robert Caso and Stengle voting against the motion.
Faidley disagreed with Stengle’s take on losing experienced teachers.
“I respect Mr. Stengle’s opinion but I would disagree with his comments and say that all of our teachers are highly skilled,” the superintendent said. “We have a situation where we are able to replace our teachers when they retire, that we have highly qualified candidates out of college who want to work in Boyertown.”