Districts Hire New Educators to Replace Early Retirees

The Santa Monica-Malibu, Beverly Hills and Culver City unified school districts have hired nearly 100 teachers, principals and other school administrators in recent months to replace scores of professionals who have taken advantage of early retirement incentive programs.

The new hires represent an unusually large influx of educators into the three Westside districts, where school officials have grown more accustomed to dealing with hiring freezes caused by declining enrollment than with filling teacher vacancies.

Mark Karadenes, Santa Monica-Malibu’s assistant superintendent of personnel, said the recent thaw in the district’s hiring freeze will “bring new people, new blood to the district.”

The shift began last spring when more than 100 employees of the three districts took advantage of early retirement programs that offered financial incentives to veteran teachers and administrators. Those who left are being replaced by new teachers at lower, entry-level salaries.

Initial Savings to Diminish

The districts receive an immediate savings by reducing the number of employees at the top of the pay scale, but the savings diminish over time as the new teachers move up the pay ladder.

The Santa Monica-Malibu district has hired 47 new teachers and six new administrators. The hires were possible in part because 46 teachers and administrators retired under a program that would provide them a monthly allotment equal to a 10% bonus in their retirement payment. The additional seven vacancies occurred when employees not eligible for retirement quit.

“I don’t think we have hired more than 50 people since the 1960s, when there was a lot of expansion,” said Karadenes. “In the last 12 years the district has been declining in enrollment, and so we have been forced to reduce staff.”

The district may save $500,000 the first year. The beginning salary for a teacher is about $26,000 a year, compared to the top-scale salary of nearly $45,000.

Culver City’s assistant superintendent of personnel, Ralph Vilani, said that his district filled nearly all of the 20 positions that opened up this year after 12 teachers and three principals retired and five other employees quit.

Culver City offered to pay its employees $35,000 over five years or the equivalent of $250 a month for life. Vilani said the teachers requested the package so that those considering retirement would have additional money to pay for increased medical coverage.

This is the first time in recent years the district has hired so many new employees, he said. For years, Culver City has suffered from declining enrollment.

Estimates of how much Culver City will save were not available.

In Beverly Hills, Walther Puffer, assistant superintendent for personnel, said the district plans to replace 26 of the 42 employees who opted for early retirement.

‘More Professional Way’

Puffer said the retirement plan should save the district $2.5 million over the next five years. As an incentive, the district offered its employees $36,000 in a cash payoff or an annuity to pay out over life.

The success of the retirement program enabled Beverly Hills to avoid laying off 16 teachers to balance its budget, Puffer said.

“This was a much more professional and humane way to reduce the positions to balance our budget,” he said. “The problem with layoffs is that they hurt the youngest people (because of seniority) which contributes to the over-weighting of the staff to the top level of the salary scale.”

Puffer is one of four administrators opting to leave the district under the program. “I’ll be close to 60, and I plan to travel with my wife and enjoy my grandkids,” he said.