Governor Christie promises he will pay into the state pension fund if a number of his demands are met (that's how collective bargaining works now in New Jersey) and one of his prerequisites is to raise the retirement age for teachers to sixty-five . . . and while I realize that 65 might be a typical retirement age in the private sector, it is not what was promised if you dedicated your life to education-- when I started teaching, the retirement age for teachers was fifty-five: it was one of the alluring things about the career-- and although the age has been raised periodically for new hires, it hasn't changed if you were "grand-fathered in," but the new proposal states that anyone with less than 25 years teaching experience must work until they are 65 before they can receive their pension, and I understand that the Governor is trying to balance the budget, but I am not sure that he's thought about the ramifications of this proposal:
1) Though it won't be so bad for this generation of kids, the next generation of children will rarely have the joy of a new, young teacher, idealistic and fresh out of college . . . instead they will be taught by old, bitter and wilted hags and crones, eking out those last few years before retirement and the big sleep . . .
2) It will be extremely difficult for new teachers to get jobs, because the old teachers won't be able to retire . . . and teaching is a young person's job-- it requires an incredible amount of energy and endurance-- so health care and logistical costs will sky-rocket because old teachers will be taking loads of sick days and using far more health care than young teachers . . .
3) The only time students will get a new, fresh, young idealistic teacher is when their old teacher dies, and this will inevitably happen in front of students, and the psychic toll this exacts on our population-- the collective trauma our youth will share, that they all have seen a teacher fall over in the middle of class, croak out a last bit of wisdom, and then die in front of them-- will off-set any budgetary benefits from the proposal;
4) On the plus side, this makes the rest of my life very easy to figure out . . . I don't have to worry about thinking about early retirement . . . what I might do with myself, where I might want to live . . . I will be in the same spot for the next twenty-five years, doing the same job, watching my colleagues grow old and wrinkled, living in the same house in the same town . . . and enjoying a higher quality of living that the vast majority of the humans on the planet . . . and there's something comforting in that, as long as I pace myself.
7 comments:
Not only does it change the retirement date, but changes the ratio to n/65 which gives us way less money--plus, he also wants to get rid of cost of living adjustments so you will probably live in your house for the next 60 years. This is all contingent upon you actually having a job; if you are given a crappy class and deemed "ineffective" when you are up for tenure at the end of your career, since you are at the top of the guide, you may just get fired, and then one of those bright young teachers you speak of will get your job and you will move here: http://sentenceofdave.blogspot.com/2010/12/bonus-picture-spooky-shack.html
Um... You can retire whenever you want. You just won't be able to collect the full amout of your pension if you decide to start payments before 65. Just like social security payments work. Nothing stopping you from investing in your own retirement through an IRA or some other investment vehicle like the rest of us.
this proposes that we can't collect ANY pension until sixty-five, which wasn't the deal I signed on for, but whatever, I have a house and there's no cholera in my water . . .
Come on, you got into teaching so you could play your guitar for a captive audience - now you can play and sing "Peace Dog" in 2035 and students will be forced to listen and smile politely.
Christie also is proposing an increase in the normal retirement age from 62 to 65 for teachers, school employees, and non-uniformed state, county and municipal workers; an increase in the number of years required to qualify for early retirement from 25 to 30 years of service; and an increase in the early retirement penalty to a 3 percent pension payment reduction for each year. The current penalty is just 1 percent per year for those retiring between the ages of 55 and 62, and 3 percent a year for those retiring under age 55.
from: http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/10/0914/2348/
okay, so i'm in for life-- but i'm not complaining-- it's good mental exercise, and like leckys says, now my captive audience will have to listen to me play until i'm as old as mick jagger.
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