Jan. 23--The Charlottesville School Board unanimously approved an employee retirement incentive program Thursday, partly to help cope with the grim financial realities facing school divisions.

Human Resour-ces Director Faye Giglio said in an interview that the incentive has a three-fold purpose -- to get a one-time cash influx, benefit employees and prevent other staff from losing their jobs.

"We're hoping through retirement and normal attrition, no one will lose a job," Giglio said. "The downside is that we always regret losing our experienced staff."

The division hired 92 employees last year. Of those, 15, or 16 percent, left by this year.

The bonus will be made available for 79 eligible employees -- those who can fully retire under the Virginia Retirement System by June 30 and who have worked as full-time employees in the division for at least 10 consecutive years.

The monetary amount will be determined by taking 10 percent of theemployee's base salary, with a minimum of $3,000 and a maximum of $6,000 per employee.

Eligible employees will receive the bonus in either June or July of this year and then again in the summer of 2010.

Albemarle County this month also approved a similar, one-time retirement incentive for its schools.

The incentive is expected to save Charlottesville's school division roughly $300,000. Budget figures for this year show that the division is spending roughly $5.4 million for retirement benefits, and the amount is expected to decrease by $55,290 in fiscal 2010, according to budget figures presented Thursday.

The division spent about $5.5 million in fiscal 2008, and it has allocated slightly more than $13 million this fiscal year for all employee benefits.

Clark Elementary School counselor Brian Dublirer expressed concern to the board about some staff being hit hard next year and in retirement because the division is proposing a 2.5 percent salary increase for teachers and instructional assistants, but only a 1.5 increase for other eligible employees. Dublirer has been a counselor at Clark for 20 years.

"It's a double penalty," he said. Dublirer added that entrance salaries for newcomers were rising more than increases for steadfast employees.

"I feel they're being rewarded for their salaries instead of those who have been consistent in the school division," he said.

School Board Chairman Ned Michie said he hopes the retirement incentives could allay some of those concerns, adding that the board and division staff wanted to discuss the incentive early to give employees adequate notice.

"This has money attached to it this year," Michie said. Employees will have through May 1 to accept the incentive.

The division last had a retirement incentives program in 2006, but that was slightly different in scope than the one approved Thursday. Giglio said the previous plan allowed eligible retirees to also get money for their health insurance.

Giglio said the one-time incentive was not planned at the beginning of this year, but the division has wanted to create a long-term plan for its employees.

But at this time, Giglio said, "economically it's not a good time to add in extra benefit features for long-term commitment."

The School Board members also discussed questions they had sent about the division's efficiency study to MGT America, the educational consulting firm that completed the review.

Superintendent Rosa S. Atkins said that once the budget process is over, the division will hold town hall meetings on some of the more controversial recommendations listed in the report -- including firing 13 teachers and shuttering an elementary school.

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