In a desperate effort to save money, the Santa Cruz City District hired an outside firm, Public Agency Retirement Services, to come up with a new retirement plan.
In a desperate effort to save money, the Santa Cruz City District hired an outside firm, Public Agency Retirement Services, to come up with a new retirement plan. That new plan, selected by 41 teachers, offered them a one-time payment of 80 percent of their salaries, as well as health care and other benefits. It also offered them a chance to be paid to return to the classroom a few days a year. Total savings: $900,000. In return, the teachers had to agree to larger classes for grades K-3.
Now, however, it seems as if the Public Agency Retirement Services staff need to go back to the drawing board, or blackboard as the case may be. Their plan failed to calculate the cost of replacing some of the teachers or reductions already built into the budget. As a result, the district could break even at best or end up paying as much as $10,000 per teacher who signs on. In many instances it won’t even save staff. Because of the current reductions, other teachers will still be getting their pink slips.
Trustee Don Maxwell summed up the school board’s response: “I’m most embarrassed.” Read more at The Mercury News.
