As layoffs loom, schools to offer early retirement

School officials are reviving an early retirement program as they brace for layoffs at the K-8 and high school levels. 

Superintendent Laurie Hunter cited falling enrollment as a reason for the incentive, which the districts last offered in 2020. The K-8 and Acton-Carlisle school committees approved the proposal Monday. 

Administrators expect to save money by replacing veteran teachers with newer staff who command lower salaries. In some cases, they might leave positions open to save even more — and offset potential layoffs.

“We are making some reductions this year,” Acton-Carlisle Chair Tracey Marano said during Monday’s session. “This would help in that sense that we would know who is retiring.”

Salary savings

The school system offered a similar program from 2018 to 2020. 

Leaders modeled the new “early retirement/separation incentive plan” on the 2020 version and will offer $30,000 to staffers who participate.

In 2020, someone had to have been in the district for 15 years to qualify. This time, officials dropped the threshold to 10 years. Recipients must make their decision by January 15 and will officially leave their jobs on June 30. 

Hunter, in an email to The Acton Bridge, clarified that the program doesn’t cover non-teaching staff.

Representatives of the K-8 teachers union didn’t respond to a Bridge inquiry. Reached by phone, high school teachers’ union President Andrew Fall declined to comment.

Hunter said she recommended lowering the bar for early retirement payouts after “looking at the data” and finding “there are some folks who came to us later in their careers that might be interested.” 

The superintendent framed the program as a “win-win” for budget writers and outgoing employees. 

CCHS and Acton’s K-8 schools have historically been among Massachusetts’ highest-paying districts for teachers. 

Next year’s base salary for a teacher with a master’s degree at the high end of the pay scale will be $130,592, according to union contracts. A new educator with only a bachelor’s degree would make $60,927.

Early retirees opting into the new program get $10,000 per year for three years. 

An outgoing teacher could receive their payout for their first year of retirement, and the districts could still save nearly $60,000 by replacing them.

After a few questions about the incentive and the replacement process, the School Committee voted unanimously to enact the program. 

Falling enrollment

CCHS enrollment dropped from a recent high of 1,323 in the 2021-22 school year to 1,191 students in 2024-25, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

Over the same time frame, K-8 enrollment fell to 1,914 from 1,998. 

Plans for the current fiscal year called for some reductions as Acton Middle School also consolidated into the new Ellen Garrison Building. Officials have scrutinized enrollment again for the 2027 fiscal year budget and Hunter said, “We need to rightsize across the schools.”

Although she said cuts are coming, Hunter said, “We’re just not ready to say where and how,” out of respect for employees who might be affected. 

Asked roughly how many positions might be cut, Hunter told The Bridge, “We are still working through the impact of lower enrollments and will share more information as I have it.”

Out-of-district tuition

Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Robert Conry, in his latest budget update, said pricey out-of-district special education placements are “phenomenally, unbelievably low.”

After earlier optimism, the same can’t be said for the high school. There, Conry said, “We had more additional placements than we anticipated.”

Public schools pay special education tuition when they can’t adequately serve a student in-house. A dozen students are aging out of high school for fiscal ’27. But Conry said they’re generally at “lower cost placements.” 

Eight new students’ tuitions are coming onto the books, and Conry said one “is fairly expensive.” 

Conry said rising staff health insurance costs are another challenge. 

The Finance Committee was scheduled to adopt its final recommendations for town and school budget increases on Thursday.

The School Committee is set to discuss budgets again next week.