Re: fairfax county schools are retirement
Posted by:
tiredofcps
()
Date: April 11, 2013 09:01PM
The OP actually asks a very good question, and the answer to it would surprise A LOT of people.
You can go out with full retirement with 30 years service at the age of 55. Sticking around after that really doesn't make sense; if you do you can't get retirement, and so you're working for something like $8,000 a year (this doesn't take into account how the retired teacher suddenly has to pay like $800 a month for medical care).
The amount you get in retirement rises very slowly over your years of service, with the amount suddenly ticking up, way up, over your final five years of service. And the difference between going out with 30 years service and going out with 27 or even 28 years is very significant indeed. It is not a constant slope.
Now here's the thing that blows people away. You would think that if you've stuck it out for 20 years or 22 years or 26 years, you'd stick around for the full 30. Just a few more years and you get the sweet check for the rest of your life. Here's the thing: Most teachers don't. Most teachers go out at 22 or 24 or 26.
What happens is at 26 years service, the retirement is pretty good. And after 26 years your average teacher is really tired of the FCPS BS, of the dumb new programs, of the technology that is just incredible except it really isn't, etc. They smell that pretty good retirement, have a bad year, and say the heck with it. Add in that most teachers are women and many do not serve their full careers with FCPS and often take a few years off to have babies, and your average teacher is hitting 26 years service at 60 or 62. That's old enough to be tired.
The going out with 30 years service at 55 years old people are like lottery winners. Everybody talks about them, wow, what a great retirement check, but they're really rather rare.
