Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Why Does The City Want Veteran Teachers To Leave? It's All About The Pension.





















 





The teacher shortage that is widespread throughout the country has reached the Bronx, where vacancies abound as few qualified candidates actually apply, and is ominously looming for the rest of New York City, especially after 2020.  Yet from the Chancellor on down into the school administration there is a deliberate push to remove veteran, in particular senior teachers out of the New York City schools.

One would think that schools would cherish their veteran teachers since they bring with them good classroom management skills, deep curriculum knowledge,  and a stable presence to the students.  Moreover, the veteran teacher is a role model for the many "newbies" being hired and possesses that hard to replace institutional memory of how schools need to be run efficiently.  However, the City and the DOE does not see it the way educators see it.  Instead to them its all about money.  They see the veteran teacher as a liability that's highly paid and worse the potential pension the City and the DOE must pay out if the veteran teacher when he or she reaches full retirement age.

Starting this school year, approximately 70% of teachers fall under the Tier IV pension provisions.  Most of the rest are Tiers V and VI, with the majority being Tier VI since Tier V lasted only two years.  For argument sake, let's assume that the remainder of the teaching staff are under Tier VI (30%). Since the schools hire about 4,500 teachers annually, the teachers under the Tier VI plan will be a majority by 2020, when a mass exodus of Tier IV teachers are expected to occur between 2018 and 2020.

Why is that so important to the City and the DOE?  Not only will they initially save money since a teacher at top salary makes twice what a Tier VI "newbie" makes but more importantly,  the veteran teacher's Tier IV pension benefits are far superior to the Tier VI plan. How superior is the Tier IV plan for veteran teachers than for the Tier VI "newbie"?  Let me count the ways.

Tier IV Veteran.............................Tier VI "Newbie"

Employee Contribution.............Employee Contribution
3% first 10 years......................3.5% < $55,000
0% thereafter............................6% > $100,000

Final Average Salary................Final Average Salary
Top 3 consecutive yrs..............Top 5 consecutive yrs

Multiplier..................................Multiplier
1.67% first 19 yrs......................1.67% first 19 yrs
2.0%  20 yrs..............................1.75% 20 yrs.

Full Retirement Age.................Full Retirement Age
62 years of age.........................63 years of age

Special Requirements
30/55 and 25/55.........................None

Reduced Age Factor................Reduced Age Factor
55 - 0.73....................................55 - 0.48
56 - 0.76....................................56 - 0,56
57.- 0.79....................................57 - 0.61
58 - 0,82....................................58 - 0.68
59 - 0.85....................................59 - 0.74
60 - 0.88....................................60 - 0.81
61 - 0.94....................................61 - 0.87
62 - 1.00....................................62 - 0.93

 Almost as important is that under the Tier VI plan it takes 15 years to get vested for retiree health benefits and a ten year vesting period to receive a minimal pension.  Unfortunately, the majority of Tier VI teachers will never be vested, even to get a minimal retirement and fewer yet will be vested for retiree health benefits.  Finally,  by 2018 all Tier VI teachers will be paying a minimum employee contribution of 4.5%  What follows are some examples of potential maximum pension calculations using different assumptions of time served and Final Average Salary (FAS) when comparing Tier IV and Tier VI.

Example 1:  Minimum Pension, Age 62
Tier IV................................Tier VI
10 years.............................10 years
FAS = $83,000....................FAS =.$78,000
Pension = $10,119..............Pension = $6,252

Example 2: Low Pension, Age 62
Tier IV................................Tier VI
15 years.............................15 years
FAS = $90,000.............,......FAS =.$85,000
Pension = $22,545..............Pension = $19,802

 Example 3:  Average Pension, Age 62
Tier IV................................Tier VI
20 years.............................20 years
FAS = $110,000..................FAS =.$104,000
Pension = $44,000..............Pension = $33,852
'
Example 4:  Maximum Pension, Age 62
Tier IV................................Tier VI
25 years.............................25 years
FAS = $120,000..................FAS =.$112,000
Pension = $60,000..............Pension = $45,570

Example 5:  Maximum Pension, Age 62
Tier IV................................Tier VI
30 years.............................30 years
FAS = $130,000..................FAS =.$120,000
Pension = $78,000..............Pension = $58,590

Example 6:  Special Pension, Age 55
Tier IV................................Tier VI
30 years.............................30 years
FAS = $130,000..................FAS =.$120,000
Pension = $78,000..............Pension = $30,240


Example 7:  Special Pension, Age 55
Tier IV................................Tier VI
25 years.............................25 years
FAS = $120,000..............,...FAS =.$112,000
Pension = $60,000..............Pension = $23,520

Now you know why the City and DOE wants to get rid of veteran teachers.  It's all about the pension.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Age Discrimination Lawsuit by the ATR's would put an end to this criminal scheme.
FOIA the data and organize a class action law suit.

Anonymous said...

Chaz I have a question. I was hired in 2011 for the 2011-2012 school year. I was a tier IV. (At least I believe that I was) However the following school year (2012-2013) the new hires were under the inferior tier VI. So I dodged a bullet. But How could tier V have lasted 2 years if the DOE and the city went from tier IV to tier VI in one year?


Unless I am misinformed, could you explain that to me? Thanks

Anonymous said...

Oh and yes I was hired in 2011 so I was under the crappy end of tier IV but at least it was superior to tier VI.

Tom said...

The pension as far as I'm concerned is nothing more than the carrot in front of a donkey as it walks off the cliff. At least it's that way for new and mid range teachers teachers. If the kids or the workload doesn't kill you the stress will. I know guy who died only several months after he completed thirty years of service. Within the last several years he could hardly walk and had very noticeable severe health defects.

Anonymous said...

ATRS field supervisors are very happy to u rate older teachers, they need the Union will not do anything.

Unknown said...

Through 2018-2020 how many tier 4 teachers do you think will retire ? The normal yearly average is 4,500 . How much higher will it go ? This is what I've been telling my fellow teachers in my school for a couple of years . I truly believe NYC will have a huge shortage of teachers by 2020 . Who wants to teach in this environment? Even college kids are realizing how bad it is

Anonymous said...

The city should offer a buyout like they did in the early 1990s to Tier IV teachers. Thousands of Tier IV teachers would leave so fast that the road runner "beep beep" would get crushed on the way out the door. Then the city could finally have their Tier VI dream teachers.

Anonymous said...

8:10,
DOE refuses to,release FOIL info. UFT has the same information and refuses to release it to help their paying ATR members. Is there any other proof needed that the UFT is part of the scheme to rid the schools of veteran teachers? Sue Edelman of the NY Post has filed a lawsuit against the DOE.

Chaz said...

Anon 6:14

Tier V started January 1, 2010 and ended March 31, 2012. Based on that you're Tier V unless you were credited for prior experience.

Anonymous said...

Chaz can u simplify today's email from Mulgrew about new evaluations?

Anonymous said...

I am Tier IV and would leave tomorrow if I could! Never return. The stress is unbelievable. Working on 2002 software, no paper, no staples, no tape, no working printers, computer shuts down mid-lesson, no acrobat adobe reader, wifi slower than a snail, drive by observations, kids roaming the halls cursing, screaming suck my d*ck all day, calling each other faggots, kids have no pens, or paper, call home, phone is disconnected, 10 kids on my roster in homeless shelters. Everyone is who teaches is terrified while other staff members who don't get observed walking around with smiles. Data reports, test scores, danielson - students are supposed to question each other, students are supposed to manage classroom behavior, peer evaluate- our careers are riding on 14-year-olds who can't function without their phones. Dumping emotionally disturbed SPED kids into ICT classrooms. Everyone gets testing accommodations no one tells you how to implement accommodations. It is just bad. All I want for Christmas is a buyout or a new job.

Anonymous said...

You're right Chaz I was mistaken.

Anonymous said...

Exactly most of us are leaving this nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Let them create a teacher shortage

Anonymous said...

Systemic Age Discrimination and failed policies supported by the UFT.

Anonymous said...

If you retire with 30 years at 55, do you get 60% of your FAS? That's what I was always told, but your data seems to suggest 62 years of age to get the full 60%.

Anonymous said...

Leadership Principals are hiring many newbies, because their experienced teachers are leaving in droves. Chaos is just around the corner.

Anonymous said...

I think this is clearly seen in what is happening at Townsend Harris. The average salary of a teacher at this high school is $90,705. Townsend Harris has the highest average salary for teachers in all of Queens. So this may be a reason why a certain person was send there to take on the role of the IA Principal. The person creates a chaotic work environment and this makes the school become a very unpleasant place for people to work. This chaos will accelerate teacher churn. Thus, teachers who can retire will retire and those who can't retire will move on. In the end, the average salary will go down as these expensive teachers are replaced with newbies. This is what I think is actually happening with Townsend Harris HS.

Anonymous said...

i'm tier VI...let's say i work 10 years, and then change careers/school systems...can i simply 'wait' and collect pension at age 55?

Anonymous said...



Interesting calculations.

Of course, a NYS constitutional convention could make them worthless.

Chaz said...

Anon 12:55

Yes you can but it would includebe an age reduction factor of 52%.

Anon 9:46

Check my special pension, example 6. You would get 60% at 55 with 30 years of experience.

Anonymous said...

Same pattern in any school that got destroyed.

Anonymous said...

The policies in place are discriminatory against experienced teachers, and the Union is part of the problem.

Anonymous said...

Chaz, thanks for the examples. The Tier VI people really get screwed.

Anonymous said...

Happy Holidays.
You didn’t mention that in tier IV that once you hit 30 years you get 1.5% for every year after 30, not 2%.
You are also assuming people will walk at 30 years. Some people won’t have the age to retire at 30 years because they started teaching as soon as they graduated college. Some people also stay longer because they want to build up their TDA (and their stress level is much lower since they can walk out the door at any moment). And, shockingly, there are some people who are blissfully happy at their job and don’t want to leave.

Thank you for posting these posts. They are very helpful.

Chaz said...

Anon 1:29

Few last beyond 30 years in this climate and they are targeted and harassed until they retire.

Anonymous said...

Then the Union should file an age discrimination complaint.

Chaz said...

Good luck waiting for the union to do it.