Early Retirement Incentives

A well-crafted separation incentive can be a win-win approach for management and educational employees to achieve fiscal savings, avoid layoffs, and restructure departments or positions. The key to constructing a successful incentive is considering when and how it should be implemented.

As we begin 2021 and you start to prepare for next year’s budget, now is the time to assess whether a Voluntary Separation Incentive makes sense for your district or college. Public Agency Retirement Services (PARS) can conduct a complimentary in-depth analysis to determine the fiscal impact of an incentive based on your actual workforce demographics and will customize the design to meet the unique demands of your organization.

As a former superintendent of 17 years, I have always strived to provide the best education in the most fiscally responsible manner wherever I have been fortunate to lead a district. Regardless, of the socioeconomics of my districts, we were always charged with trying to do more with less. I can only imagine the angst affecting superintendents and school committees during this most trying Covid-19 pandemic. In reading articles from across the country, school districts not only have to face a level or decreased spending budget due to decreased state revenues; but have the burden of adding the expenses necessary to address the pandemic. So, what’s a superintendent to do?

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts throughout Connecticut face the paradox of decreasing budgets, due to state and local revenues losses, and increasing costs, due to safety mitigation in transportation, sanitization, temperature checks, personal protective equipment, and technology. With mounting pressure, many school districts are being asked to evaluate layoffs, furloughs, or other austerity measures to create savings. Another option that Superintendents should consider are district-controlled voluntary separation incentives.