Why are more teachers retiring in Alabama?

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — The State Board of Education said retirements are up in this year in Alabama’s schools. They said it was expected, but other state leaders argued it’s a call to action.

State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey said retirements have been lower over the past couple of years. He said that’s because lawmakers raised retirement benefits in 2022, and teachers stayed to take advantage of them.

“We are concerned about the rising number of teacher retirements this year, but it’s not unexpected. We know that those people then, they have 30, 35, and in some cases, 38 years,” he explained. “And so, at some point they are gonna decide to retire.”

Neah Scott, legislative council with the Retirement Systems of Alabama said 3,500 K-12 employees made that decision to retire this past schoolyear.

“We expected a lot of teachers… they may have already intended to retire. You’ve got the matrix changes, they said ‘you know what, maybe I’ll stay on three more years. It’ll help with retirement benefit, and then I’ll retire,” explained Scott.

But still, Rep. Curtis Travis (D-Tuscaloosa) said teachers need more incentives to continue teaching, such as better pay and training.

“We just talk about ‘there’s an increase on folks who have retired. We’re not even focused on the people that are not getting past five years, and the people that are not staying,” he said. “That’s what my concern is.”

Rep. Susan DuBose (R-Hoover) said the benefits for teachers are great, but more can be done when it comes to the classroom, like student discipline.

“And we need to work from the front end, getting new people to head towards education so that, as our experienced teachers retire, we have filled in those slots.”

Dr. Mackey said the retirements also come as COVID relief money has ceased for schools. He said they will have to help some districts downsize and transition.

“I think this is a trend that we’re gonna see over the next couple of years. That, as positions go away, as people retire, not all of them are gonna be replaced,” he said.

Dr. Mackey said the greatest teacher shortage lies in rural counties. He said they need to work on getting elementary and special education teachers in rural communities.