Michael Mulgrew, head of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, suggests the city can ease its budget crisis by offering early retirement incentives for experienced teachers to retire. In
today’s New York Post he writes:
Retirement incentives are particularly effective in the Department of Education, since senior teachers make more than twice the salary of entry-level teachers. There are about 25,000 experienced teachers to whom such an incentive could be offered right now. Given current salary levels, the retirement of 1,000 of them would save the city $55 million per year. If 4,000 senior teachers were to retire, the system would save more than $220 million – even if every retiree is replaced by a new teacher.
This is a common argument you hear during budget crises, but the math does not add up. Given New York City’s
hiring spree over the last decade, not to mention local pressure to keep class sizes low, it’s safe to assume the retiring teacher would indeed be replaced. To get to Mulgrew’s $55,000 savings per teacher, we have to assume the district will replace a teacher that’s maxed out on the
salary schedule ($100,000 in NYC) with one without a Master’s degree or any years of experience ($45,000). Mulgrew’s figure is the maximum amount and any variation (say, if the new hire had a few years of experience or additional credits beyond a bachelor’s degree) would reduce the savings. More importantly, this calculation does not include the
minimum $44,000 annual
