EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERED TO TEACHERS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Palmdale School District will offer its most experienced and highest-paid teachers an extra year's salary - paid over several years starting five years from now - to retire early.

The Accelerated Retirement Incentive Program will be offered to full- time teachers, as well as management employees and nonteaching staff, who are 55 and older and have worked for the district at least 10 years.

``It's approximately equal to a year's salary, but it's deferred out to a period of years,'' said Rick Grove, director of personnel services. ``There are different types of retirement incentives. Some plans provide immediate income. Ours provides deferred income.''

Grove said that the district's program is self-funding so it doesn't cost the district extra to offer it.

``It's got an underlaying cash-value life insurance policy that funds it,'' Grove said.

Employees must take the offer by April 19.

The board voted 4-0 with one abstention at Tuesday's meeting to approve offering the program. The abstention was cast by board President Sheldon Epstein, whose wife works as a speech therapist in the district.

Palmdale is the second local district this year to offer an early retirement program to teachers.

Antelope Valley Union High School District in February approved a supplemental retirement program, or SERP, that could save the district $1.4 million over five years if about three dozen employees sign up.

High school district officials said the plan was a way to gain ``impressive savings'' at a time of expected budget shortfalls by replacing veteran instructors with new, lower-paid teachers.

Of the 1,600 employees in the Palmdale district, nearly 150 are eligible, including 78 teachers and 19 administrative and management personnel.

The average salary of those 78 teachers is about $65,000, versus the average pay of $42,000 for a new teacher hired into the district.

The focus for the Palmdale district, however, is not saving money but to provide a benefit for employees, officials said.

``This is a nice tribute for employees who have been with the district for a number of years who are retiring. It's nice to recognize them for their service and contribution to the district,'' Grove said.

Similar plans have been offered in the past by both districts.

One-third of the high school district's 756 teachers and about a quarter of Palmdale's 1,011 teachers are not fully credentialed, according to state statistics for the 2000-01 school year.