Teacher retirements will save Oceanside $4 million

Oceanside teachers had until Feb. 11 to decided whether they would opt into the district’s cost-saving retirement incentive program, which Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown announced at the December Board of Education meeting.

According to Brown, the district needed at least 15 teachers to choose the early-retirement plan in order for it to be viable. As of the deadline day, 29 teachers had decided to retire, which will save Oceanside taxpayers about $4 million next year.

“I think that it’s a great thing for the district because they’ll be able to save a lot of money and not be able to lay off a lot of teachers,” said Riche Roschelle, head of the Oceanside Federation of Teachers, the district’s teachers union. “Of course, some of those jobs will not be refilled, and that’s unfortunate but understandable in these difficult economic times.”

The package was available to any teacher 55 or over who has worked in the district for at least 10 years. In exchange for retiring in June, they will receive checks for between $15,000 and $30,000 in July, depending on how many sick days they have accrued and how long they have worked in the district. Additionally, teachers who opt for the package will receive $3,500 a year for 10 years, in addition to the pensions the district already pays them.

Many hoped that if enough teachers took the incentive, it would mitigate the need for layoffs in the district. But despite the number of participants, the need for layoffs has not been eliminated.

“It will certainly minimize [the need for layoffs],” said Brown. “[There could be] a lot fewer than there would have had to be.”

The savings from the incentive, according to Assistant Superintendent for Business Louis Frontario, will help offset some of the increased costs the district is facing this year, like the increased contributions to employee benefits. “It’s going to help us control the growth of the budget, for sure,” said Frontario, adding that nothing in the budget is finalized yet. “Our goal right now is to bring in a budget [increase] somewhere around 2 percent.”

Some of the 29 positions vacated by early-retiring teachers will need to be filled. “We’re going to have to advertise for technology teachers, business education teachers, family and consumer science — that’s what we used to call home economics,” said Brown. “So we’re going to have to advertise for some of those specialty areas, but not in other areas.” He estimated that the district may have to hire four or five new teachers, but they would cost the district less than the teachers who are retiring.

“I’m pleased that people took the opportunity to retire if they wanted to,” said Brown. “It’ll save the positions of many newer teachers, and it’ll save the taxpayers about $4 million. So it’s definitely a good deal.”