A retirement incentive plan for veteran Evansville teachers, available to 200 teachers this school year, would provide $40 million over 10 years for other uses, school officials said Monday. The Evansville School Board was told the savings comes by hiring beginning teachers at lower salaries to replace earns about $47,400 a year and beginning teachers $26,600.

Sherry DeMuth, Evansville Teachers Association president said the teachers union would bargain to get some of the savings placed into salaries of other teachers. Superintendent Phillip Scholffstall said taxpayers will benefit from the plan, too. Alternatives like this plan are needed to "minimize" the trend of relying more on local property taxes to fund schools since little additional state funding is available, Schoffstall said.

Another benefit, Schoffstall said, will be an influx of younger teachers. Gary Staley, executive director of corporation supportive services, said employees with at least 17 years experience are eligible for the plan. or 695 of 1,400 teachers.

The incentive plan would be made available to 200 teachers, based on seniority, Staley said. If 200 teachers opt for the plan, only 180 new teachers will be hired to replace them, he said. School officials said that’s a realistic goal, noting program changes resulted in 15 fewer teacher and classroom aide jobs for the upcoming school year. Also another 20 teachers are projected to retire during a normal school year and would be replaced by beginning teachers, Staley said.

The incentive plan is expected to attract teachers who already qualify for full state retirement or are nearing retirement. State retirement benefits put $16,000 to $20,000 annually in a retiree’s pocket. ETA officials said. The Evansville plan would be in addition to that. Staley also said 129 administrators qualify under the plan and 15 to 30 of them may be allowed to participate in the incentive program.

Staley recommended Acordia School Benefits be hired to buy the annuities and manage the plan. Acordia’s cost is $1.57 million a year for five years, slightly higher than other companies’ proposals. Acordia plans to hire Educators Preferred Corp. to counsel Evansville teachers on their individual benefits under the plan, Staley said, something ETA officials said was a factor in the recommendation of Acordia. Yet to be decided is whether the incentive plan will be eight or 10 years, Staley said.

Teachers will receive in monthly installments over the plan’s life:

• $30,000 from the corporation.
• $145 for each year of service for up to 35 years.
• $70 for each day of unused sick leave, up to 225 days.

In addition, the corporation also will pay 65 percent of taxes on the retirement income over the life of the plan. The maximum monthly pay for retiring teachers would be $529 under the 8-year plan and $424 under the 10-year plan, Staley said. Staley said the plan would save about $814,000 the first year because the corporation will pay 10 years of taxes in a lump sum that year. The saving escalates, jumping to $1.8 million in the second year and to $6.5 million the 10^th year, he said.