Retired teachers could go back to school, fill shortages

As kids across the state go back to school this month, so too could some retired teachers.

That’s one option under consideration by a South Dakota director of school administrators, but the state’s retirement board and teachers on an extended vacation say the prospect is unlikely.

Rob Monson, executive director of School Administrators of South Dakota, earlier this month suggested to the South Dakota Retirement System Board of Directors that they adjust a 2010 law that puts in place deterrents to state employees who retire and re-enter their position or a similar one. He said given the current teacher shortage across the state retired teachers need an additional monetary incentive to get back on the bus.

“We’re looking for a way to keep them in South Dakota instead of retiring and going over to teach in Minnesota or Iowa or Wyoming,” Monson said. “If you could have that incentive to stay on, draw a salary and retirement wage while not having to retire, that might get some people to stay.”

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The shortage has been blamed for single digit candidate pools and unfilled openings in smaller school districts. A governor-appointed task force, including lawmakers and educators, is responsible for proposing potential solutions in time for the 2016 legislative session.

But Rob Wylie, executive director of the South Dakota Retirement System, said changing the state retirement system to allow teachers to return to the classroom full-time could cost $6.2 million in additional subsidies. And the system could be rattled by more public employees retiring early only to re-enter the workforce and obtain additional benefits.

Before a set of regulations went into place in 2010 curbing the behavior, the retirement system incurred more than $5.3 million in subsidized annual unanticipated costs. Wylie said dozens of state employees retired early, then almost immediately returned to work, increasing the total value of their retirement benefit by $49,677 at the state and other retirees' expense.

“There was a certain amount of people who sometimes took advantage of us,” Wylie said. “The Board doesn’t want to return to the place where we were pre-2010 where people could retire and return to their job and in essence were being subsidized to do that.”

For most state employees the age of retirement is 65, but the state also allows special early retirement based on the rule of 85. That rule allows some employees, including teachers, to retire after working a certain number of years added to their age to equal 85. So if a teacher worked 30 years beginning at age 25, he or she could retire at age 55 per the rule of 85.

Lesli Jutting, superintendent for Watertown school district, said her district struggled to fill vacant positions this year and had to move elementary school teachers to special education positions. The teachers will work toward their certification in special education this year, she said.

Jutting said adding another incentive might help convince some retired teachers who are on the fence to return to fill the gaps in the special education and other subjects, even if just for a year or two.

“When we have openings we can’t fill we look all the retirees we’ve had in the last 5 years and start calling,” Jutting said. “We try to appeal to the teachers and say, ‘Remember how great teaching is, remember how great the kids are?’”

And they’ve had a few successes doing that, Jutting said. This year the district filled a vacant orchestra teacher position with a retired teacher who works part-time. She said the district filled a math teacher vacancy last year with a retired teacher who worked on a temporary basis.

State employees are able to re-enter the workplace on a part-time or temporary basis without affecting their pension.

Jutting said having another tool to encourage retired educators to return would be an asset for the district.

“I think we’re going to need that door to stay open for awhile while we work on getting more people into the system,” Jutting said.

But after a meeting earlier this month the proposal seems unlikely to gain traction, as the state retirement system’s board of trustees and the South Dakota Retirement Laws committee discussed it only briefly before dismissing the subject.

“They were fairly adamant about closing the door on retire, rehire,” Monson said.

But even if that system opened up again, possibly providing retired teachers additional funds, some say they wouldn’t consider going back to the classroom.

Betty Beyer, president of the South Dakota Retired School Personnel Association, said teachers have long been opposed to the practice of returning to the job after retiring.

“Retire and rehire, those were dirty words,” Beyer, a former 7th and 8th grade art teacher at Chester schools, said.

Beyer said she and many of the roughly 1,700 retired teachers and school personnel she represents don’t have the energy to return to the classroom.

“Most of us have not gone back because we’re all getting old,” Beyer, 82, said. “I’m not a spring chicken, I can’t go back.”

Diana Glover, 75, a retired elementary school teacher who worked in the Rapid City school district for 31 years, said she wouldn’t have returned to the classroom, even for the higher pay.

“I felt I needed to retire at that point,” Glover said. “I don’t think I would have been a good asset in the classroom if I went back.”

But Glover said she knew some retired teachers who might consider the option and understood why small districts would employ the practice if they were left with no other options.

With about half of all aspiring teachers who graduate from a South Dakota college opting to leave the state after earning their degree, the conversation could continue in coming years.

State colleges are expected to crank out 3,381 teachers between 2015 and 2019, and about half are projected to leave after they earn a degree, according to the state’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Teachers and Students’ report. Meanwhile, enrollment is expected to steadily increase, creating the need for more teaching jobs as educators retire and resign.

But with the lowest teacher salaries in the country, South Dakota could continue struggling to attract educators. South Dakota teachers make about $40,000 a year. By comparison, in North Dakota, the neighboring state with the next-lowest average salary, teachers make about $8,000 more a year on average, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The state’s task force last week considered implementing a sales tax to increase teachers’ wages. They will meet again Oct. 1 to discuss additional options.

Education advocates proposed a one-cent summer sales tax increase last year, but the proposal never gained traction in the Legislature. However, a poll conducted by Argus Leader Media and KELO-TV last year showed 63 percent of likely voters from both major parties would support such a measure.

Follow Dana Ferguson on Twitter@bydanaferguson