Metro Detroit School Districts Opt For Skilled Teachers Over Savings

The Detroit Free Press (9/19, Walsh-Sarnecki) reported, "Metro Detroit school districts are not expected to save as much money as anticipated when the state offered incentives for experienced teachers to retire early" as "many districts chose to hire based on experience rather than offer jobs to new college graduates, who would be paid at the bottom of the salary scale." According to the Free Press, "When the state convinced 17,000 teachers to take early retirement during the summer, it was widely assumed that those teachers would be replaced by entry-level ones to save money and help ease school financial woes. But only two of the 15 large school districts polled by the Free Press did so."