Jul 18, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – No Central Greene teachers took the early retirement incentive offered to them by the school board last month, although the district’s budget is still intact for the upcoming school year.

The incentive, offered June 29, was supposed to help save the district more money during a time in which the board already cut $1.4 million from its 2016-17 budget.

Central Greene business manager James Shargots said that shouldn’t affect the financial position of the district because the teaching positions were still included in the budget, regardless of any retirees.

“It would’ve been nice if they took it – we could’ve reduced (the budget) a little bit – but it was already included in the budget, so it didn’t have any effect on it,” Shargots said.

The incentive was the same as one offered last year, a one-time payment of $10,000 with a 10-year health care plan, or until Medicare kicks in. Teachers needed to be at least 53 years old and have 22 years of service, the last 10 of which must have been served in Central Greene.

“I wish that people would have been able to take it,” said Melissa Wilson, president of Central Greene’s teachers union. “If it would’ve been on the table at the end of the school year, I know people would have taken it because last year they had 13 teachers go.”

The board made the offer after heated community discussions in June about how to save the district money without furloughing teachers. During those meetings, the teachers union asked the board to offer early retirement incentives for teachers in an attempt to save the district money on high-end salaries.

“A lot of them were discouraged that it took the district this long to offer something,” Wilson said. “I believe that’s why the people I thought would take it didn’t.”

Wilson said because the offer was made in late June – a month after the school year ended – any teacher who took the incentive would not have seen the retirement money or benefits kick in until December. They also only had two weeks to make that decision since the retirement deadline was July 12.

She said another reason teachers didn’t take it is because some still have children that need to be on their health insurance and the incentive only gave insurance for the teachers and their spouses.

“We’re very happy that they did not furlough people, but I feel the retirement incentive was offered a little too late for the eligible teachers to make that huge life decision to end their career,” she said.

Shargots said he did not know whether a similar incentive would be offered next year. That decision, he said, would be up to the board.

“It’s a year-to-year thing. The board has a right to offer it, but they don’t have to,” Shargots said. “The majority of the board would have to vote again next year.”

Board President Andrew Corfont and Superintendent Brian Uplinger could not be reached for comment Monday.

The school board has been in ongoing contract negotiations with the teachers’ union since last summer, when the previous contract expired. Wilson said the teachers made a proposal to the board during negotiations July 13, but “no progress was made.”

Greene County bureau chief Mike Jones contributed to this report.