The Morning Report
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The golden handshake keeps evolving: San Diego Unified is now offering a bonus to all eligible employees, both educators and non-educators, to encourage them to retire, according to a weekly update posted by Superintendent Terry Grier.
The plan was originally intended only for principals and teachers, according to Administrators Association Executive Director Jeannie Steeg, whose group pushed to include other managers besides principals in the bonus.
The savings of any such plan are dependent on how many employees take it, what kinds of employees take it, and how many employees are actually replaced. In a budget workshop on Tuesday, San Diego Unified staffers estimated that if the plan were offered to all employees, it would save $17 million in its first year and nearly $60 million over five years if only 70 percent of the departed employees were replaced with newly hired workers. Whether it will replace that many employees — or more — has not been publicly discussed.
The board will vote on moving forward with a golden handshake for administrators this Saturday and consider a separate agreement for other employees next week.