Manheim Township School District may woo teachers to retire
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 10, 2011 22:33
By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer
Manheim Township School District plans to join other local districts in offering its teachers an incentive to retire early to reduce personnel costs.
The school board Tuesday approved a memorandum of understanding with the teachers' union to offer teachers $30 or $45 for each sick day they have not used when they retire.
Currently, teachers cannot cash in accrued sick days when they retire.
If three to five teachers sign up for the incentive, each of them would receive $30 per unused sick day. If six or more teachers sign up, they each would be paid $45 per day.
To qualify for the incentive, teachers must sign up by March 25 and agree to retire at the end of the current school year.
If fewer than three teachers sign up, the incentive would not be offered and teachers would be permitted to withdraw their retirement notices.
Several other districts, including Hempfield, Eastern Lancaster County, Conestoga Valley and Octorara, have offered similar retirement incentives to teachers and other employees in recent months.
School districts save money by not replacing the retirees or by hiring younger employees at lower salaries to take their place.
Manheim Township School District is facing a $4 million revenue shortfall in next year's budget. In recent months, the district announced plans to furlough five teachers and cut by half the stipends it pays its coaches and advisers for extracurricular activities and other positions.
The district also plans to cut back on its technology and music course offerings, eliminate its high school Work Prep program, reduce its administrative staff and cut department budgets across the board in 2011-12.
Administrators and some support staff have agreed to a wage freeze, and the administration has asked the teachers to consider doing the same.
The cuts are necessary to offset increased costs and reductions in federal and state aid for next year, officials have said.
The school district learned this week it's likely to get about $1.1 million less aid from the state in 2011-12 than it received this year, under Gov. Tom Corbett's budget proposal. That's about $300,000 less than expected, said Joe Kurjiaka, the district's chief operating officer.
The reductions include a $350,000 cut in the state basic education subsidy and the elimination of $320,000 in grants for kindergarten and other early education programs and $102,000 in reimbursements for cybercharter school tuition.
The state also plans to cut by $300,000 the amount it reimburses the district for Social Security retirement contributions for its employees.
Because of its low aid ratio — based on the market value of properties and personal incomes — and its relatively young work force, the district took a bigger hit than any other school system in Lancaster County from that cut, Kurjiaka said.
The administration continues to work on ways to reduce spending in next year's budget.
An update on those efforts will be provided at a public budget hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. April 6 in Manheim Township High School Convocation Hall.
The school board has agreed to limit a tax increase in next year's budget to 1.4 percent or less. The spending plan must be approved by June 30.
bwallace@lnpnews.com
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/361144#ixzz1GcDsKLPA
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