Boosting early retirement in cash-strapped districts does not hurt students' math and reading scores, according to new studies released at the American Economic Association meeting, but pension-incentive programs may cost schools some of their most effective teachers. Separate studies of teachers in California, Illinois, and North Carolina paint a…

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…

Seemingly arcane new federal rules about supplemental retirement plans have sparked a seismic shift in responsibility for school districts, thrusting them into the retirement business with new oversight--and burdens--involving their employees' 403(b) accounts. Once merely paper-pushers between their employees and investment choices, district…

This issue, the fourth in a series on demographic forces shaping U.S. public education, discusses how the aging of the population affects education. The first section, "Shades of Gray," discusses how as the population ages, schools may face tougher competition for public resources, noting how tensions have surfaced in one Florida county.…