Retirement Incentive To recognize the contribution of those employees who have provided long and dedicated service to the district, the Board shall provide a retirement incentive to teachers who meet the following eligibility requirements:
a. the teacher must have completed 15 years of service to District #34 by the date of his or her retirement;
b. the teacher must submit a written, irrevocable, notice of intent to retire to the Superintendent by no later than August 1 of the start of the retirement incentive period; and
c. the teacher must not have received an increase of greater than 6% in creditable earnings (excluding any grandfathered or exempt earnings) in the three (3) school years immediately preceding the proposed start of the retirement incentive. In up to each of the final four years of his/her employment, the teacher shall receive an incentive of 5% over his/her prior year’s base salary (which in the second, third and fourth year of the incentive includes the prior year’s retirement incentive). In the event that the State of Illinois should raise the maximum allowable percent increase, the Board will honor an increase up to 6% so long as the district does not incur any penalty. Once the teacher begins to receive the retirement incentive, he/she shall not be eligible for earnings from extra duties or summer school, stipends, and/or any other type of compensation that could result in the Board’s obligation to pay any additional contribution or “penalty” to TRS. However, the teacher may submit a request to the Superintendent’s office to continue performing paid extra duties or to earn additional compensation, so long as any such additional compensation would not result in the teacher receiving a greater than 6% increase over his/her prior year’s creditable earnings. The Superintendent’s grant or denial of such request shall be non-precedential and non-grievable. Any payment necessary to ensure the retiring employee receives an incentive of 5% shall be made in a lump sum each year by no later than June 30th. In the event a certified employee who tenders his or her irrevocable letter of resignation experiences a drastic and unanticipated change in personal circumstances, the Board may, at its option, permit the certified employee to revoke his or her irrevocable letter of resignation. In the event the Illinois General Assembly enacts any legislation during the term of this Agreement, which legislation would require the District to pay any additional moneys (or lose any additional revenues) to the State of Illinois and/or the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System on account of its payment of this retirement incentive, then this retirement incentive shall cease to exist at the end of the current school term. However, prior to the cessation of the benefit, either party may demand to bargain concerning whether some or all of the retirement incentive can be continued without adding any additional costs to the District. Eligibility to submit a request to receive this incentive shall terminate on August 1, 2021, and any such request received prior to August 1, 2021, must be for retirement to occur no later than the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
