Retirement News : Seniors : Teachers Urged To Retire, Then Work

Teachers Urged To Retire, Then Work

Date Added: 03-06-2005

LAKELAND -- Retirement can be doubly sweet for teachers not ready to give up the chalkboard for the shuffleboard.

Teachers in Florida have the opportunity to receive their current salaries plus their pensions, provided they go back into teaching after retirement. They can even earn a second retirement if they work for six more years.

All they have to do is take a month off.

It's one way the state and local school districts are trying to keep up with demand for teachers.

The Polk School District needs to fill more than 300 open teacher positions for next year.

Because of its recruiting efforts and programs like re-employment and the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program, district officials think they'll fill all the classrooms.

Some open classrooms may be filled with familiar faces.

Take Sandra Arnolds-Patron, a teacher at Highland City Elementary. She had no need for a going-away party when she retired from her school in May 2004.

That's because, as planned, she returned to the classroom at Highland City in July 2004 after retiring in May.

"That gave me the 30 days I needed off," she said. "So it didn't interfere with the beginning of school."

The 60-year-old teacher now leads a program new to the school called SPELL READ P.A.T., which tutors struggling student readers.

She said she still enjoys her profession and loves working with children. That played into her decision to return, she said.

"I liked the school where I was teaching," she said. "And I had been there since 1970. . . . So I would say a good workplace situation was one of the first considerations."

The extra money is nice, too.

"I'm getting a retirement check as well as a salary," she said. "So that allows me to save some money."

According to state law, if a state employee wants to become a teacher -- or return to teaching -- after retiring, they can receive a teacher salary while collecting a state pension.

The only requirement is that they wait a month between retiring and returning to work to finalize arrangements.

After that month, they can begin work and immediately earn their salary plus pension. And after six more years of work, they can earn a second retirement.

David Lauer, assistant superintendent of human resource services for Polk schools, said teachers can come back without even noticing a break in service.

"They can retire at the end of our school year, come back at the start of the next school year and start on a new retirement," he said. "They'll be vested in six years."

He said the state's law is a great deal.

"It's a win-win," he said. "It helps employees if they want to work. And it helps the students who benefit from the teacher's experience."

But re-employment is not the only financial incentive to retirement in the state's system. Re-employment works in tandem with the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP.

Under DROP, retirement-eligible employees can defer their pension payments into an account while they continue working for another five years, or eight years if they're teachers. The money accrues in the DROP account with interest at an annual rate of 6.5 percent.

The incentives are especially enticing for a teacher.

For More Information:

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