The Countdown Continues

The notification came Friday that I passed the remaining/redo comp question, so all the requirements for the Master of Science degree, Curriculum and Instruction, have been met. However, due to a quirk at the university, I cannot officially be given the degree until after graduation the end of May.

Usually, that would not be a big deal, but this is my retirement year, and my retirement is based on my single highest salary year. The difference between a BA +75 units and an MS +75 units is significant, totaling several hundreds of dollars in retirement pay monthly. Therefore, it became urgent that I determine how to get salary recognition from the district without actually having the degree certification in hand.

Thanks be that there are good people in the world, one of whom is at the university, and the other employed by my school district. I sent emails over the weekend, to which I received prompt replies, and followed up with a couple of phone calls. Because I am retiring and the hang-up is not with me, but with university policy, the university rep is going to write an official verification letter assuring that I have earned the degree: I just won’t have it on the official transcript until after May 2007.

The district personnel will accept the unofficial web transcript and the letter from the university until the official transcript arrives sometime in March, followed by a replacement official transcript in June that shows the degree has been conferred.

Now that’s a whole lot of confusing for something that should be simple, but whatever it takes, I go to my formal retirement conference Wednesday with new information that will help determine what my monthly retirement benefit will be. I also need to find out for sure how much I can earn each month before affecting my retirement: teachers have a cap on earnings after putting in 30 years at the front of the classroom. I also am eligible for social security, but my benefits from that retirement are diminished by STRS retirement benefits.

I am amused that other occupations may double and triple-dip, but teachers lose additional benefits to STRS benefits. I recall fondly meeting former governor Ronald Reagan during my freshman year in college; he eventually earned a pension from being the president of the Screen Actors Guild, another pension from serving as governor of California, and a third retirement income from his tenure as President of the United States.

Had he been a teacher, rather than an actor and politician, he too would have lost the right to some of his retirement benefits.