Professors prodded to decide on early retirement
A decision as weighty as early retirement breeds procrastination, thus State System of Higher Education leaders can’t know if being 35 acceptances shy of 200 one week before deadline means their incentive program is in trouble.
But with so much riding on the system’s ability to bring payroll expenses into line with declining enrollment, and with the March 2 date looming, they are concerned enough, at least publicly, that they are putting out a call for faculty on the fence to take a closer look.
The Enhanced Sick Leave Payout Program offers up to 125 accrued sick days instead of the maximum 50 for eligible faculty across the 14 state-owned universities belonging to the State System. The system’s board of governors in January approved the program that is backed by chancellor Daniel Greenstein.
The offer grew from a collective bargaining side letter between the system and the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, which represents about 5,000 professors at the 14 universities including California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock in Western Pennsylvania.
The system believes it is a good offer, said spokesman David Pidgeon, who said leaders are optimistic but also concerned given the timeline.
“We want to encourage faculty to think about it, have a conversation with their family, people they trust,” he said Monday. “We know
how personal a decision this is. At the same time, this could have an enormous impact on the direction of decisions in the future.”
Those eligible can range in age based on years of service, from 25 to 10 years, and five years for those with an approved disability. Qualifying for 125 days would mean professors had accrued at least 300 sick days over their tenure.
The retirements involve full-time faculty and must occur in the 2019-20 fiscal year. They could rescind their decision if the target is not met, officials said.
Hitting the target would give the State System more financial flexibility as it adjusts programs across the 14 campuses that since 2010 have lost 20% of enrollment, but to date, have pared the instructional force by 5.9%.
Pressure from the General Assembly to cut deeper into the workforce was evident during last week’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the governor’s proposed 2020-21
Commonwealth budget.
The State System thus far has not provided projected upfront costs for the incentive program or how much it could ultimately save. Mr. Pidgeon said it could depend on where the retirements occur.
“If, for example, a faculty member retired from a high-enrolled program, there may be a need to hire someone new,” he said.
If the retirement target is missed, faculty layoffs are an option, though the universities also would have other avenues to cut costs, leaders of both the system and APSCUF have said. “It’s a much more difficult conversation,” Mr. Pidgeon said.
Kenneth Mash, an East Stroudsburg University professor and APSCUF president, said he would not be shocked if the goal is met or missed. “I think it’s a 50-50 proposition,” he said.
He characterized the financial offer as less than others he has seen elsewhere, although he said it could be enough for faculty on the cusp.
“The decision to retire is very complicated,” he said, noting the difficulty of walking away from the classroom. “There is an emotional aspect to that decision.”
It was not completely clear from either side Monday if there is legal authority to extend the March 2 deadline if the shortfall is small, and if so, what approvals it would require.
Mr. Pidgeon pointed to concern that only twice since 2010-11 have yearly retirements topped 200. However, he also acknowledged that since 76 who signed up for phased retirement last year are included, the system in theory needs to generate only 124 new acceptances. It has reached that threshold five times in the last decade, according to system data.
Mr. Mash said he believes that for most of the bargaining unit, any faculty retrenchment could not occur until the end of the 2020-21 academic year, because notification deadlines required under collective bargaining have passed.