Editorial: Forced retirement

Sunday, July 29, 2007 | 7:05 a.m.

Clark County School District officials are bracing for a wave of teacher retirements in the next year as experienced educators jump at an opportunity to obtain cheap health insurance premiums.

As reported Wednesday by Emily Richmond, teachers with 30 years of service are expected to retire so they can sign up with the state's public employee retirement plan. Their insurance would drop from $435 a month for an individual HMO plan to $50 a month for a PPO on the state plan.

The School District, by law, will have to subsidize the retirees' insurance on the state plan. A rush of retirements is made possible by a provision in the law that will force teachers in Clark County to retire by Sept. 1, 2008, to be eligible. If they retire after that date, they will see significantly higher premiums through other plans.

The bottom line is that the School District will lose its most experienced teachers and gain a tab worth millions in insurance payments.

How does that make sense?

This situation underscores the problem with the way Nevada has traditionally approached education. It forces higher costs onto the schools while not doing much to help educate our children.

Pushing experienced teachers out the door will only exacerbate the problem . Clark County has been trying to hire and retain enough qualified teachers every year and it will sap the district of experienced teachers, which the state desperately needs.

Instead of making teachers search for affordable insurance, the state should be doing more to keep the best and most experienced teachers, through higher salaries and a retirement health care plan that offers affordable premiums, not encourages a push out the door.