Jordan school officials are bracing for a teacher exodus after a decision this week to revoke post-retirement insurance benefits for the district's roughly 3,500 employees.

Education leaders are now estimating 733 teachers will retire this year to preserve their current insurance benefits. An annual meeting to discuss retirement options usually draws about 100 teachers, but Thursday's meeting attracted roughly 500 potential retirees, said Scott Berryessa, president of the Jordan Education Association.

"Teachers feel extremely betrayed. It's eroding morale," Berryessa said at the meeting to inform teachers of their latest retirement options. Exact numbers on who will be retiring this year will not be available until this spring.

The decision to switch retirement plans this week still allows teachers to get cash payout in lieu of six years of post-retirement insurance, but that payment is in today's dollars without consideration for inflation, Berryessa said.

Board members this week said they understood the anguish of teachers but added it was best to make the switch now so teachers can make career decisions. The change was needed, board members added, to bring the district into compliance with state law and to stabilize retirement benefits.

If teachers do retire this year to hang on to the insurance perk, Berryessa said the district is going to be left with few options other than squeezing more students into classrooms, hiring less-qualified teachers and cutting special classes.

In addition, teachers who are not close to retirement age might be jumping ship now that the district's retirement plan is not so enticing, he said. The lower pay scale in Jordan was somewhat balanced by the attractive retirement plan before, he said, but now teachers have little incentive not to go to districts like neighboring Salt Lake with a higher salary range.

"Teachers are feeling extremely let down," Berryessa said. "Teachers are saying I don't want to quit, but I can't afford to stay. It's a brain drain you cannot replace."

That's the situation for Riverton High School special education teacher Robin Frodge, who is pinning her hopes on reversing the board's decision. Otherwise, she said she will probably be leaving the district soon to look for better pay.

"The teachers at Riverton High school are up in arms," Frodge said. "We feel that promises made have been broken."

At Bingham High School, English teacher Margaret Pratt said up to four of the 13 teachers in her department are considering retiring early to get the insurance benefit.

For Pratt, the only real option is to stick it out until her retirement in six years because she is single and can't afford to be out of work.

"I'm numb. I can't believe they're doing this to the employees," she said. "I'm dumbfounded. I think it's unconscionable."

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