Early Retirement Bonus Assailed

Teachers, librarians, counselors and administrators who retire from the William S. Hart Union High School District this year are eligible for a bonus critics say is now ineffective at promoting early retirement.

The district’s board of trustees on Wednesday night approved the Golden Handshake program, which some district leaders wanted to drop for 1993.

The program’s opponents said it no longer promotes early retirement because its age 60 cap was removed by the courts and because the district has offered it for eight consecutive years. In exchange for continuing the program, the Hart District Teachers Assn. has agreed to pursue alternate retirement incentives for 1994.

The Golden Handshake program improves the formula used to determine an employee’s pension in exchange for retiring by a certain date.

Upon retirement, employees pensions are figured by multiplying an average of their highest salary for three years times their years of service times a percentage based upon their age. Those who qualify under the program have two years added to their service time.