Posted on 09/01/2011 5:20:04 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
When students return today for the first day of school across Wisconsin, many familiar faces will be gone, as teachers chose retirement over coming back in the wake of a new law that forces them to pay more for benefits while taking away most of their collective bargaining rights.
Documents obtained by the Associated Press under the state's open records law show that about twice as many public school teachers decided to hang it up in the first half of this year as in each of the past two full years, part of a mass exit of public employees.
Their departures came before the new law took effect, changes pushed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature that led to weeks of protests at the Capitol.
The ensuing exodus of teachers and other state employees has led to fears that the jobs might not be filled and that classroom leadership by veteran teachers will be lost.
Ginny Fleck, a teacher of German from Green Bay with 30 years of experience, is among nearly 5,000 teachers who retired.
"It wouldn't make sense for me to teach one more year and basically lose $8,000," she said. Fleck, 69, decided to retire in February, even before the bill became law, in part because of the hit she would take to her $60,000 annual salary, and because of other changes the district was making.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
The dead wood is culled
Industry did it 10 years ago. It has begun in Wisconsin
Yes. And there still are some good public school teachers...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.