Retiring Teachers Run Into Trouble
by Sarah Carr - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Judy Demarest always planned to teach for a few more years after her official retirement from Warren Easton Senior High School in May 2007.

But after learning that she does not qualify for retiree health benefits because she ended her career at a charter school rather than a traditional Orleans Parish public school, Demarest started to worry that she might have to work for the rest of her life if officials don't work out a glitch that has caught dozens of veteran teachers in a retirement snafu.

The teachers fall into a unique category: They all taught in Orleans Parish schools for years, then switched to charters -- some of them simply new versions of their old schools -- after Hurricane Katrina. In line with state charter law, the Orleans Parish school system placed the teachers on a three-year leave of absence.

Though charter school teachers remain eligible for the basic retirement benefits offered through the state retirement system for public school teachers, they generally are not eligible for ancillary retirement benefits, such as medical and life insurance, provided by the Orleans Parish school system.

The only way to regain the retiree benefits, it appears, is for teachers to leave their charters and return to a school operated by the Orleans Parish School Board before retiring.

Education officials say they are working to come up with a plan that would alleviate chaos that could be sparked by the exodus of teachers from charters back to traditional public schools.