<p>Wondering if a New Jersey teacher or two could help me out with a questiong…I had a recent conversation with a person who’s brother is a teacher in NJ. I understood that he will be retiring in the next couple of years with 70% of his salary after only 25 years of public school teaching. He started teaching right out of college and taught in the same school his entire career… Could this retirement package be accurate? I always thought it took 30 or more years to get retirement of that kind. This is a young man; not yet 50! Perhaps I misunderstood, but that’s the info I walked away with… Does teacher retirement vary from district to district or is it the same throughout the state?</p>
<p>I am not a teacher, but you can check</p>
<p>[New</a> Jersey Education Association](<a href=“http://www.njea.org%5DNew”>http://www.njea.org)</p>
<p>and search for retirement. NJEA is the New Jersey Education Association which is the teacher’s union.</p>
<p>Teacher’s pensions in NJ is number of yrs in pension system
-------------------------------X avg 3 yrs salary
55</p>
<p>If you teach for 33 years the pension is 60% of the average of the 3 highest salary years of teacing salary only. Extra pay of any kind does not go into the average. You contribute 5 or 5.5% of your pay.</p>
<p>Teacher benefits in NJ are outstanding. In many districts the teachers pay nothing toward medical coverage, either. My town hires retired teachers as subs at $200 per day. As most teachers with 25 years on the job have salaries exceeding $100K, it has been controversial – new teachers trying to break into the district through the sub route are not being utilized, as the retired teachers have the connections.</p>
<p>NJ has over 600 districts, by the way.</p>
<p>stickershock: $200/day for subs?..OMG! and noone in town protests this?..Most districts in NJ are at $80-$90/day…seems like a huge waste of taxpayer $.(please tell me via PM what district I should sign up for next year…)
…it also seems like the days of free medical are slowly coming to an end; there are a number of districts working without contracts right now because of this stumbling block; slowly but surely they will be resolved with the teachers paying into the plan (especially in those districts where the salaries are that high…yikes!)…</p>
<p>If retired teachers in NJ pay nothing toward their medical insurance premium they are very lucky. My husband retired from teaching last year after 33 years. We now pay $900 a month for family coverage - full premium for daughter and me, $100 for him. It is great coverage and I am sure we could find an independent plan cheaper but with pre exisiting conditions we are afraid to drop this plan.</p>
<p>NJ teachers retire very well. And when they retire from a district that gets its funding from the state and not the local community, they retire EXTREMELY well. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/corzine_moves_to_block_keansbu.html]Link[/url”>Corzine moves to trim Keansburg school chief's $740K retirement deal - nj.com]Link[/url</a>]</p>
<p>This why NJ has high taxes and poor services other than the schools.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There are indeed some excellent public schools in New Jersey. It is only fair, however, to point out that there are many public schools in New Jersey where the teaching and administration ranges from poor to utterly unacceptable. Staff in these districts, however, also receive substantial salaries and overly generous benefits.</p>
<p>toblin- it is important to point out that the retirement package in your link is for an administrator and was entered into via a contract with the town board. That package has never been available to rank and file teachers.</p>
<p>NJ residents have an interesting resource that allows anyone to lookup the salary of any public employee in the state. Look what teachers are being paid, especially in the so called “poorer” districts. A brief perusal is enough to dispel any notion that our public employee are underpaid. Note: There figures do not include the value of their more than ample benefits. </p>
<p>[NJ.com:</a> New Jersey by the numbers](<a href=“http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/]NJ.com:”>http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/)</p>
<p>In good times and bad teachers and other public employees in my home county (Hunterdon) and related governments and schools got 3 to 5% annual raises. That’s much better than most people.</p>
<p>Toblin, it’s also just base salary. Some towns give longevity pay & all kinds of stipends.</p>
<p>Stickershock- I believe the salary posted is the actual amount that was paid. I do not believe anything is hidden.</p>
<p>Just wondering- what should the salary and benefits be for a teacher?
The starting salary? after 10, 15, 20 or 25 years what should they make?
What about the salary for police? Should it be higher for a cop or a teacher.</p>
<p>At each point, it should be the minimum necessary to get the people you need to do the job to your standards. </p>
<p>I submit that very few people know what that number is, even in their own region.</p>
<p>I certainly don’t, although i’ve ofen wondered if you could do very well by raising teachers salaries somewhat and being a lot more selective in hiring…assuming there were a way to figure out who were the best teachers, and also a way to jettison the ones who weren’t so hot.</p>
<p>dadx- I agree. Math and science would get more but elementary ed less. The salary for a police officer in suburban towns would drop like a stone.</p>