Retirement seems like a weird word to toss around when I won’t hit the age of 50 until the start of next school year. However, it has become forefront in my mind, and the minds of many educators, lately.
Last year’s retirees included the final group that was eligible for what was known as the Rule of 90: If your age and years of service added up to 90, you could retire with your full pension. If you finished college in four years, that would put you at 57 or 58 to be able to take advantage of that if you wanted.
The Rule of 90 is no more. My teaching neighbor and friend, Duey Ferber, just missed it by taking a bit longer at MSU. I’m sure there are plenty of others in that boat, but Duey and I have talked about it a lot.
Now, if you want your full pension, you have to work until you’re 66. That’s almost ten extra years if you don’t want a penalty. Yes, I know many people work until 65 or 66, but I can tell you this: That won’t be me.
There are some jobs, such as those who work for federal prisons, where you hit retirement even before those lucky teachers who had the Rule of 90. There’s a good reason for that, and it has to do with the stress and demands of the job. Teaching is probably not as stressful as working at a prison or in an emergency room, but it’s right there.
And I hear all the old arguments about teachers getting summers off and all that. How can it be that stressful? Come on in and visit sometime! We are expected, rightly so, to educate our students and help them get to a point where they can be successful in life. Now mix in plenty of state and federal hoops to jump through along with parents who don’t want to be part of the process, even when a child is causing distress, and the desire to see all students succeed becomes quite stressful indeed.
I said there is zero chance I’m teaching in my mid-60s, and I mean it. Some people have said, “You wouldn’t retire early, even if you could.” I’ll take that bet.
I love teaching. I enjoy interacting with students and impacting their lives. I do not like all the meetings and in-services and trying to get a parent to respond to a plea for help. It’s a much different world in education than it was when I started in 1996, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
There is a bill in the state legislature that would essentially take the place of the Rule of 90. This one says that if you are 62 or have 35 years of experience, you can get that full pension. I have 27 years in education. That would give me eight more years, which would mean I would be nearing 58 as I walked out the doors for the last time as a full-time teacher.
The part of the bill I don’t like is that they want to give an extra year of credit for each of the two Covid years. I didn’t find those years any more stressful than a normal year. We were given more (too much) time for prep, and I didn’t have all the kids together, which eliminated some of the discipline problems.
But don’t we have a teacher shortage? We can’t let all these people retire early! Yes, it might hurt for a while, but this is one way to encourage people to join the profession. Plus, we also have a substitute teacher shortage. Most teachers consider subbing for at least a few years, so we could add to that pool.
Those of you who have retired understand this important element - you have to have enough money to retire. Just because the law says you can doesn’t mean you get to do it. I need to have my mortgage paid off. I need to figure out insurance until I hit 66. I need to go back to work.
Wait, what? My dad retired at 62. He went back to work the next Monday, albeit only 15 or so hours a week. I like that idea. I could sub for any extra money I needed and ease my way out of a job that I really do like. I also have said I’d go back into the grocery store business I did in high school and college. I enjoyed bagging groceries and stocking shelves. I wouldn’t want to do it full-time, but it makes for a good retirement job.
You never know how long life will give you. If the law passes and I can retire in eight years, I will. I want to dictate my time for as long as I can. I want to enjoy time to read and visit family and putter on ball diamonds and whatever else flips my waffle. One of my grandpas died within five years of retiring. We all want to have a long and enjoyable retirement, but nothing is guaranteed, so I say to take advantage of what your job gives you as far as when you can go.
I really do enjoy teaching, despite some of the negative changes. But I enjoy a lot of things. The age of 62 is my absolute cut-off. I wouldn’t just disappear from NRHEG, but I will walk out the doors with a smile when my retirement does arrive.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is interpunction, which means the insertion of punctuation marks in a text, as in, “Once he retired, he no longer had to provide interpunction in student papers.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!