NOTE, 5/11/09: The story below has been changed (in blue) to provide clarification and to correct earlier errors. Thanks to our readers for their vigilance and patience.
MAY 8, 2009 -- Two programs near and dear to the hearts (and wallets) of many public school teachers may be on the chopping block as Statehouse leaders work to complete the 2009-10 state budget.
But at least one could be reinstalled into the state budget, thanks to support from influential members in the General Assembly.
In April, the House of Representatives approved and sent its version of the budget to the Senate. With a tight year coming and one just passed that saw more than $1 billion in mid-year cuts, both programs became vulnerable.
The House’s original version called for a drastic reduction in the number of teachers allowed to receive a $7,500 annual National Board Certified Teacher stipend. It also proposed shutting off the Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive (TERI) program to new applicants.
After the Senate received the House version of the budget, it voted to reject the entire budget, and ruled the attacks on TERI to be “out of order.”
But because the two chambers may soon select members to meet in conference committee meetings to complete work on a compromise budget, both programs should be discussed.
National Board certification is a multi-year process that identifies superior teachers. Many states offer pay enhancements to teachers who qualify, and some local communities further sweeten the deal with an additional pay bump.
Currently, there are approximately 740,000 American teachers who have qualified as National Board Certified, and close to 5,800 of those are in South Carolina, where teachers can receive the stipend for a 10-year period.
South Carolina began the National Board stipend program approximately 10 years ago as a way of rewarding and retaining its best teachers. Full funding of the program, and a connected teacher loan-repayment program, would cost $64 million in the coming year, according to Sandy Smith, deputy superintendent for policy and legislation at the state Department of Education.
Martin’s view on board program
No one is talking about cutting teachers currently enrolled in the National Board program, according to Sen. Larry Martin (R-Pickens), because of the contracts the eligible teachers signed with the state.
“If we were to do that, someone would file a lawsuit and stop us dead in our tracks,” said Martin, whose wife is a board-certified middle school teacher in Pickens. “We’d be obligated to follow through on the contracts by the people across the street,” he said referring to the state’s Supreme Court on the other side of Gervais Street.
“I’d prefer we’d not close [the program],” said Martin “It represents, in my mind, one of the things we can do to keep around high-achieving classroom teachers, and get them to remain in the classroom, versus moving onto special education or into administration.”
Martin said that South Carolina currently ranked in the top three nationally in the percentage of teachers with board certification. The House plan would be to limit the number of new applicants to 1,100 11,000.
Martin said if the board certification were done away with, it wouldn’t answer the question of how the state would manage to keep teachers around at the peak of their profession.
DOE’s Smith, concurred, saying that not being able to offer a stipend would serve as a “disincentive” to teachers to stay in their jobs and could affect teacher recruitment. Smith also said that doing away with the current program, but still honoring the contracts, wouldn’t answer whether teachers could “re-up” for a second ten years -- something the first wave of recipients could soon be able to do.
Martin said he had hopes the program would be reinstated in the House, as he said Speaker Bobby Harrell (R-Charleston) was a big supporter of the program, a claim backed by Harrell’s office.
TERI’s future may be cloudier
Now on to TERI, which allows state retirement-eligible employees with at least 28 years of service to steer their monthly pension checks into a special non-interest bearing account for up to five years. Envisioned as an incentive to keep experienced teachers and state employees on the job, employees who retire after participating in TERI collect their full retirement package, as well as a handy TERI nest egg. It’s a complicated program (read more here), but it essentially benefits people who could retire but want to continue working.
Since 2001, when TERI was first instituted, roughly 27,000 state retirement-eligible employees with at least 28 years of service have enrolled in TERI, with about half that number coming from K-12 school districts, according to S.C. Retirement System spokesman Michael Sponhour.
But Martin’s feeling for TERI are less cuddly.
Earlier this session, he signed onto a bill with Sen. Greg Ryberg (R-Aiken) that would close the program to future applicants. Ryberg claimed in an op/ed piece last month that shuttering TERI would save the state $18 million a year. (More: Aiken Standard.)
Originally envisioned as a way to retain older, vested teachers at the prime of the career, it has since been expanded to include other categories of employees, like police officers.
Since 2001, the number of state retirement eligible employees that have opted for the TERI program has plummeted, according to statistics obtained by SC Statehouse Report. That year, 63 percent of state retirees took advantage of the program; in 2008, it had dropped to 33 percent, and only 26 percent of those expected to retire in 2009 have signed up for TERI.
Sixty-three percent of teachers retiring in 2001 took advantage of TERI, while in 2008, it had dropped to 40 percent. An even more precipitous drop occurred in retiring state agency employees -- only 18 percent of whom took part in TERI in 2008, down from 69 percent in 2001.
SCRS spokesperson Sponhour said actuaries who have consulted with the agency have said closing TERI to new applicants would have little to no positive or negative financial impact to the state’s retirement fund General Fund.
Crystal ball: If Martin is selected as one of the three on the Senate budget conference committee, or if Harrell names himself to the House contingent, top teachers can likely breathe a sigh of relief. As for state retirement employees wanting to take advantage of the TERI program, it may be too late.