A chance to give back. That's what Rosemary Barbacci wanted when she retired.

A former Plum High School advanced science teacher, Mrs. Barbacci didn't wait for the state's "30-years-and-out" rule to retire. She left after 25 years in Plum -- the entire span of her teaching career -- to look after her ailing mother.

"There was a small [cash] incentive," the Monroeville resident said, declining to say how much. "It was at the end of our contract, but I don't want people to think that's why I retired. I did it to take care of my mother. I wouldn't have retired that soon otherwise."

Her mother died in 2001.

	Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Rosemary Barbacci, Ph.D., of Monroeville, retired in 2000 from teaching. Now she is a lay minister and president of the Allegheny County Association of School Retirees. Click photo for larger image.

Now, she and her husband, Joseph, travel the country visiting their eight children and 16 grandchildren. They recently spent a month in Europe, too.

Mrs. Barbacci, who is in her 60s, also serves Communion to hospital patients as a lay minister for her church, presides over the Allegheny County Association of School Retirees and exercises four days a week.

Although Mrs. Barbacci didn't leave for money, other retirees often are tempted by severance bonuses, continued health benefits or time to pursue new goals.

Rose Mellors, a former eighth-grade English teacher at Greater Latrobe Junior High School, expected to spend two more years in the classroom before retiring at age 58 with 35 years of service. That changed this year when the school district offered retirees paid medical benefits at the current rate for the next eight years. Rate increases are to be paid by retirees.

"It was a financial decision more than anything," said Mrs. Mellors, 56, who retired this year.

A financial adviser told Mrs. Mellors and her husband, another Greater Latrobe retiree, that it would cost them $80,000 in medical expenses if they chose to keep working and retire later without the incentive.

"I may not be teaching kids, but I don't think I'm finished teaching," Mrs. Mellors said. She hopes to collaborate with the administration as a consultant to create a new teacher support program.

The bottom line is that when former teachers bow out -- early or otherwise -- more money stays in the school district. In East suburban school districts, where more than 200 teachers have retired, school districts can expect to realize a combined, one-time salary savings of more than $2 million. Sometimes the savings result because the districts are hiring teachers with less experience at lower pay and sometimes because the retirees aren't replaced at all.

The East Allegheny School District expects to save about $250,000 because 17 teachers retired in the last two years, said Toni Valicenti, the district's fiscal director. Eleven left last year. Only eight of the retirees will be replaced.

"Some of the money will probably go toward paying the new hires," said Ms. Valicenti. "The rest will likely be absorbed in fixed costs, things like health care, insurance, electricity, maintenance."

Currently, 123 teachers work in the district. Most have been on the job an average of 14.5 years, according to Ms. Valicenti. The 2005-06 school year, when 11 teachers left, marked the largest turnover for teaching staff. One major retirement lure was that their current contract -- which ends Aug. 31 -- promises basic medical benefits for 10 years.

Woodland Hills interim business manager Sheldon Berk declined to talk about district savings because contract talks are on the horizon. "It's a sensitive issue at this time," he said on Aug. 1. "We're not talking about it."

Last year, Woodland Hills had 455 teachers for its 5,559-student enrollment, and 21 teachers have retired. The district expects another 15 to leave in the coming school year. At the Aug. 9 board meeting, school directors hired five new teachers and a special education coordinator.

Declining enrollment is hurting the district. Consequently, "we're going slow" with hiring, Mr. Berk said.

In Penn Hills, 16 teachers retired last year, said Teresita Kolenchak, the public relations coordinator. Roughly the same size as Woodland Hills, Penn Hills currently employs about 450 teachers, said Ms. Kolenchak.

Although she did not know how many of the 16 took early retirement, she said the district offered to pay 10 years of health care for those who took an early exit.

Teacher retirements brought the Riverview School District $60,000 in savings. For a district its size -- two elementary schools, one high school, 1,275 students and a modest $6 million budget -- a few thousand dollars can be a useful sum.

Frank Thompson, the district business manager, said Riverview had 108 teachers last year. In the spring, three put in for retirement.

	Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Former eighth-grade teachers Rose Mellors, and her husband, George, took early retirement from Greater Latrobe Junior High School this year. It was a financial decision, said Mrs. Mellors, who taught English. Mr. Mellors taught civics. Click photo for larger image.

"We're not filling [all of] those," he said. "We hired a guidance counselor and an elementary teacher instead."

Four years ago, the district saw "a few hundred thousand in savings," Mr. Thompson said. "But that won't happen again for another 10 years."

Much of the savings that districts gain comes from veterans leaving slots that are filled by lower-paid, new college graduates.

"We're talking about hiring someone at $34,000 for someone who was making $75,000," Mr. Thompson said.

As for early-out incentives, Riverview teachers who left before 30 years got $5,000 in cash and $5,000 toward health benefits for the first eight years of retirement.

McKeesport Area personnel director Michael Brinkos said his district has 343 teachers with 14 taking early retirement last school year. Eight of those slots are likely to be filled, he said.

In Hempfield Area, Westmoreland County's largest school district, paid health benefits turned out to be a powerful incentive this spring: A record 85 of the district's 479 teachers decided it was time to leave.

The driving force, said human resource director George DeCaro, was a soon-to-expire union contract provision that offered retirees free basic health care until age 65. That option is not likely to survive Aug. 31, when the current seven-year contract with the teachers union expires, he said. Many retiring teachers were in their mid-50s, he said.

Administrators have declined to specify exactly how much money will be saved by replacing retirees, including three administrators, with less experienced, less expensive employees. A sizable portion of the savings will be spent on the retirees, some of whom will require district-subsidized insurance for 10 years or longer, Mr. DeCaro said.

A few years ago, Franklin Regional School District experienced a similar turnover when more than two dozen teachers eligible for retirement and further enticed by a subsidized health-care incentive walked out the door.

But in that district, which employs 270 teachers to educate about 3,800 students from Murrysville, Delmont and Export, administrators decided to minimize the potential brain-drain created by retiring staff.

Joseph Leftwich, the district's director of instructional services and public relations, explained that the district's most senior teachers left their legacy by writing down their curriculum "big ideas" and best practices to assist those who would follow.

"It starts with people," he said. "There are folks who would say, 'they're just interchangeable parts,' but we didn't believe that."

Of course, the district still offered the incentives knowing experienced teachers would leave. The money saved helped to fund ongoing technology and capital improvement initiatives, Mr. Leftwich said.

"As with most things, it's all about balance," he added.

Extended health benefits enticed 44 Greater Latrobe teachers, including the Mellors, to retire. The positions have been filled to create a staff of 268 educators for the 2006-07 school year, said business administrator Carl Baumeister. The one-time savings in salaries is expected to be about $700,000, he said.

Dr. William Stavisky, Greater Latrobe superintendent, agreed it's difficult to place a dollar figure on the value of an experienced teaching staff in a cost-benefit analysis.

"The art and science of teaching can be lost in that," he said.

The district hopes to capture some of that wisdom by hiring Mrs. Mellors and a few other retirees to create a support network to assist new teachers on complex issues, such as special education practices and classroom management.

In other school districts, retiring administrators provided a boost to this year's bottom line.

For example, Gateway School District lost three elementary principals and a food service director totaling 141 years of experience. That was in addition to 13 of its 339 teachers. Gateway will provide health benefits for administrators, one year for every five years of public school service. Retiring teachers receive one year of health care for every four years of their time at Gateway. The salary savings should net the district $389,446, said Matthew Cummings, the district spokesman.

In Penn-Trafford School District, a decision not to fill two of the district's open principal positions will translate into a savings of $180,000, said Brett Lago, business manager.

Although a district may come out ahead, retired teachers like Irving Luzer, a former McKeesport High School math teacher, say it's sometimes difficult for retirees to eke out health-care costs once the retirement incentive dwindles.

"At the time I thought it was a good idea," he said, referring to his decision to retire in 1997 at 51. "Now I'm paying my own health insurance and I'm not eligible for Social Security."

He said the district still pays a partial reimbursement, but his portion of the annual cost is about $800 and has increased each year.

In light of the health-care expense, his wife, a nurse, is not thinking about retiring, yet. "We don't make the same mistake twice," concluded Mr. Luzer.