Like many states, Minnesota has incurred large budget deficits during the past two years. Those deficits have, in turn, led to changes in a number of areas of state government, particularly higher education. Faculty have incurred pay freezes and layoffs, programs have closed, and tuition increased. Campuses within the MnSCU system have been…

A growing proportion of the nation's professors are at the same point in their career: still working, but with the end of their careers in sight. Their tendency to remain on the job as long as their work is enjoyable--or, during economic downturns, long enough to make sure they have enough money to live on in retirement--has led the professoriate…

When the budget-cutting ended this year in one rural North Texas school district, the people-moving began. Forced to chop its total staff to 55 employees from 64, the Perrin-Whitt Consolidated Independent school system went the route of many districts across the country: It made the majority of its reductions by encouraging early retirements and…

As districts face another year of budget gaps, hundreds of thousands of teachers have been warned that, come the end of the school year, their jobs may be gone. In a policy now termed "LIFO" or "last in, first out," most districts make layoff decisions based on seniority and not on job performance or effectiveness. Using…

Nothing is more important to the success of community colleges than quality of leadership. It influences student outcomes, faculty success, and financial stability at all levels of the institution. With the impending retirements of so many baby boomer community college leaders, the leadership gap is an issue of increasing concern. In this article,…

A variety of incentives offered to faculty to leave an institution in difficult financial circumstances are outlined. They include: liberalizing the actuarial pension reduction, lump-sum severance payments, annuity enhancements, phased retirement, retirement perquisites, retraining for outplacement, paid retraining, and earnings supplements during…

This year's "Quality Counts" report, the 15th edition of this annual report produced through the joint efforts of the "Education Week" newsroom and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, arrives at a time of continued fiscal anxiety and education policy ferment in the wake of what has been widely described as the…

The rapid expansion of Ontario's educational system in the 1960s serves as a base for this study of the current decline in enrollment and its consequences. This paper examines two results of the concentration of manpower in teaching: the need for reduction in force and the potential burden on the retirement system. The author makes several…

A questionnaire and interviews were used to assess personal and professional characteristics of 97 Canadian college faculty reaching age 65 in 2000-2010. It measured career satisfaction, interest in a career alternatives program, and retirement plans. A significant proportion of respondents found little satisfaction in academe and would consider a…

The University of Salford's financial crisis of 1981-84 and the personnel policies and decisions made at that time are discussed, including spending and nonacademic reductions, construction of an academic plan, retirement and severance options, part-time appointments, temporary and self-financing appointments, and temporary promotions. (MSE)

One challenge facing colleges and universities today is that an entire generation of scholars will be retiring in critical numbers over the next several years. A national survey conducted three years ago by the University of California at Los Angeles revealed that nearly one-third of the nation's full time professors were age 55 or older. Now,…

Midcareer change programs and alternatives for early retirement for college faculty are considered based on the current situation of declining or stable student enrollments, diminished faculty mobility, and increased numbers of tenured faculty. Midcareer change programs fall into two general categories: (1) retraining programs designed to enable…

"The 2009 Legislative Briefing" is a topical summary of actions during the 2009 legislative sessions that affect education in the 16 SREB states. Topics include: state budgets and the economy; tax and revenue; teacher and faculty pay raises; retirement systems; issues affecting teachers and education leaders; health and safety;…

A northern Illinois school district (School District 300), forced by budget cuts to curtail its teaching staff, used incentives and the decisionmaking methods of William Ouchi's Theory Z to reduce layoffs. The superintendent and the teachers' union leadership established a Transfer Council of six administrators and nine teachers to plan staff…

The involuntary release of about 100 tenured faculty at Michigan State University in 1981 was avoided through implementation of a plan of financial incentives for early faculty retirement. The plan is explained from the viewpoint of its author, with colleague comments included. (MSE)