Maryland’s program to lure retired teachers and principals back into
the classroom (by promising not to reduce their pensions) as a way to
help struggling districts fill hard-to-staff positions in high
shortage subjects and schools, may be, well,?retired. As we
covered several months ago (TQB, December 5, 2003), an investigative
report by the Baltimore Sun found that retired teachers in the program
were being rehired to fill anything but hard-to-staff positions, in
anything but high poverty areas and were receiving anything but
diminutive salaries and pensions (some exceeding $100,000). The
program was particularly abused in Baltimore County (which does not
include the city).
Lawmakers have been thus far unable to iron out a compromise that will
ensure such abuses do not occur in the future. As many as 1,000
retired teachers and principals will be out of a job if lawmakers
can’t come up with something before the plan expires on June 30. While
many states have adopted similar plans in recent years, Maryland would
be one of the few to give up on the program.