Retirement

Higher salaries and improved working conditions have combined to make teaching a more attractive profession and to reduce teacher turnover rates. At the same time, however, the teaching work force has aged and faces problems in retirement programs. All levels of government should work with interested groups to find solutions to six major problems associated with retirement programs: financial inviability, conflicting state and federal policies, lack of portability of plans, inflexibility, lack of participant control, and inequity between districts. One national and 50 state commissions, which would include all interested parties, should be formed to find solutions to the problems of teacher retirement policies. In many states, high ratios of retired to working teachers threaten the viability of pension funds. Also, some states have shifted more of the financial burden for pension plans to teachers. Many schoo