Jill Wulfkuhle, 55, taught physical education in the Bethel Park schools for 33 years, waking at 5:15 a.m., sweating through her day and returning home to nap so she could have a regular bedtime like the rest of her friends.

Now she's decided to hang up her cleats, sleep in and play badminton if she wants.

"I was ready," she said. "Phys ed, when it's done right, is a very rigorous job."

Mrs. Wulfkuhle, of Belle Vernon, retired this year and plans to spend it with her favorite fellow retiree, her husband, Ken, 58, a librarian who retired from Bethel Park schools 3 1/2 years ago.

Lina Pascoli, 57, of Mt. Lebanon, taught social studies in Baldwin-Whitehall for 35 years and is changing careers, hoping to land a position at a local college where she can become a mentor to student teachers. She's looking forward to a more flexible schedule and part-time hours, plus time to spend with her family.

"I don't think I'm old enough to retire, per se. I'm just going to change my focus," she said.

They're not alone. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette surveyed the 18 school districts in the South and 17 responded with at least some of their retirement data.

Pensions, buyouts

South districts saw more than 150 teachers retire this year, with some leaving on their own and others, such as some of the 21 teachers retiring in Baldwin-Whitehall, doing it early as part of buyouts offered to decrease costs and prevent furloughs in a tough budget year.

About two-thirds of the South teachers who are retiring will be replaced but, in some districts where enrollments have dropped, not all the slots will be filled. Some will be shifted to other departments in the curriculum where the need is greater. In other areas, the jobs won't be filled at all.

Either way, districts save money in the short term when older, more experienced teachers who are higher on the pay scale leave. The new hires almost always have less experience and aren't paid as much. West Jefferson Hills alone lost more than 300 years of experience when its teachers departed this year.

Unfilled positions also save the districts money.

It's a big bottom line: South school districts will save more than $5.5 million next year through teacher retirements.

Steel Valley School District had 33 teachers retire this year and is filling 28 of the slots, saving the district $1.3 million in next year's budget, said William Kinavey, assistant superintendent.

"Our district has never seen this many teachers retire," he said, emphasizing that the district is not cutting programs. Teachers are being shifted to where they are needed, he said.

He said many of the teachers who are retiring were hired in the early 1970s, when the district population was swelling. At its highest, enrollment was 4,200, but it has drop-ped to 1,900.

While the district will save the money on personnel, it won't see a windfall; the funds will be used for other things, Dr. Kinavey said.

Baldwin-Whitehall had intended to furlough 18 teachers, but offered early retirement incentives that led to 21 choosing to retire. Of those, three slots will be filled and no one will be furloughed, saving the district $1.9 million over last year, district Director of Finance and Operations Ken Gorton said.

In Pennsylvania, teachers are eligible to retire after 35 years of service, or at age 62 with one year of service, or at age 60 with 30 years of service.

Teachers may take early retirement at age 55 with at least 25 years of service, but they are penalized 3 percent for each year of service fewer than 30.

Districts also can save money by offering early retirement incentives. A district might choose to do that to save money on its personnel costs, specifically the high salary paid to an experienced teacher or the amount the district pays into the state retirement system each year a teacher works. The cost of such buyouts is borne by the districts.

Complicated formula

To calculate what a teacher would make yearly in a pension beginning this year, the state has a formula which multiplies a teacher's total years of service by 0.025. That figure is multiplied by the average of his or her three highest salaries. A teacher retiring this year with 40 years of service would receive 100 percent of the average of what he or she earned in the three highest paid years.

As for health insurance after retirement, the districts pay for that, but the state retirement package will pay up to $100 a month of premium assistance to offset any contribution the retiree must make.

The money for pensions comes from four places: the teacher makes contributions during the working years, the district makes contributions on the teacher's behalf, the state makes contributions and the fund earns investment income.

Pensions are handled by the state's Public School Employees Retirement System, known by the acronym PSERS. It is an independent agency that oversees and administers the pensions, spokeswoman Evelyn Tatkovski said.

Last year, the last fiscal year for which the agency has numbers, PSERS paid out $3 billion in pension benefits. But despite that high figure, the individual payment is much less than people might think; the average retiree received $20,146 last year, Ms. Tatkovski said.

Bittersweet 'byes

It was tough for Mrs. Pascoli to turn her back on a job she loved. It helped that her district offered a generous buyout package, but she still finds herself forgetting that she won't have a class in the fall.

"When you finally leave your classroom, there is a great deal of sadness," she said. "You put a great deal of sweat equity in it."

She said she never burned out on her job or counted the days to the end of the year.

She keeps in touch with her former colleagues, meeting other Baldwin-Whitehall retirees at the Eat'n Park at South Hills Village twice a week.

"The waitress knows what we want," she said, noting the group gets bigger all the time as new retirees join the group.

"The teachers never lose touch with each other," she said. "The friendships build up over those years and you don't want to let that go. And you shouldn't."

Now she hopes a college will see her experiences as a valuable tool and hire her to help young teachers find their way.

In the meantime, she's polishing up her bridge skills, planning a trip to Hawaii and thinking of cleaning out those closets.

The Wulfkuhles view their retirement as a chance to enjoy life while they are still young. They still expect to socialize with their former colleagues to recall all the funny stories they have amassed over the years in a profession they loved.

A full travel slate awaits them, with a planned cruise, a son's wedding in Lancaster and another son's 30th birthday party in Las Vegas.

Over the years, both have had several deaths in the family, including Mr. Wulfkuhle's first wife, and they realize life is short.

"That's the key," Mrs. Wulfkuhles said. "We're both in the mindset of, 'Do what you can now because tomorrow may be too late.' "