Teachers retirement bill now tied to class-size reduction

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Teachers retirement bill now tied to class-size reduction

San Francisco Chronicle, May 05, 2003

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- To get legislation that would give them a "golden handshake" retirement bonus, the state's largest teachers union will have to accept a bill that would relax limits on class sizes.

The teacher retirement bill, by Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett, was linked Monday to the class-size reduction proposal that teachers denounced last week and lined up to oppose in an Assembly Education Committee.

Corbett's bill would allow let school districts offer retirement incentives for teachers, such giving retiring teachers two extra years of service credit.

That would encourage higher-paid teachers to retired and allow districts to keep teachers with less experience. Many of those teachers risk layoffs as schools prepare their budgets for next year, said Corbett, D-San Leandro.

The additional costs would be paid by the school district, not the state, she said.

The Senate Appropriations Committee tacked on a hostile amendment Monday, tying the bill to one by Sen. Byron Sher, D-Stanford, who had tried last week to pass the bill granting school districts more flexibility in the class-size reduction program.

Instead of having a strict limit of 20 students per class, Sher wants to allow schools to maintain an average of 20 students per teacher. His bill would cap classrooms at 22 students.

Sher said many school districts were considering eliminating the popular, but expensive class-size reduction program, and having flexibility would allow more schools to keep the voluntary limits.

His earlier attempt, as well as one by Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher, R-Brea, was killed in the Assembly Education Committee last week.

Now, the teachers retirement bill won't take effect until Sher's new class-size bill is approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

Representatives of the two teacher unions said they didn't want the bills to be linked. The California Teachers Association supported the retirement bill, but opposed the class size bill.

The California Federation of Teachers supported both bills.