Dear Governor Perdue:

Dear Governor Perdue: I have written you before, but did not receive a response. Though I appreciate your 4% raise proposed for educators, something more important is needed for the teachers of Georgia. That is 25-year retirement with NO PENALTIES. Here are some reasons:


1) After 25 years, many if not most teachers are burned out; allowing those who wish to retire after 25 will bring fresh new teachers in and relieve some of the apathy and poor performance from those who are burned out. Though veteran teachers who wish to stay probably aren't burned out and will continue on.

2) I am the sole caregiver of an elderly mother who needs my attention--as a "baby boomer", you know many of us are taking care of our parent(s) earlier than anticipated. (I am just finishing my 24th year of teaching, and my mom needs me now, since my dad died last June.)

3) Other SE states allow 25-year retirement; why doesn't Georgia? Many other teachers from Alabama who want to continue to teach after 25 years drive over the state line into Georgia and fill Georgia's need for qualified teachers.

4) I need to take care of my Mom in Alabama, but I am too old to start over in a new retirement system and reciprocity does not exist between Alabama and Georgia.

5) By taking away the penalities for 25-year retirement and letting us draw our benefits immediately, we can follow our traditional family duties, as laid out generationally.

6) The military allows retirement after 20 years, so do some state government jobs, and social worker jobs; why must teachers work (by force) until 30 years?

7) You would overall improve the quality of education in GA by allowing burn outs, worn outs, tired outs, and special needs teachers like me to move on and not bog down the educational system with apathy or shifts in priority.

8) I have raised a generation, and now am a lead teacher training other teachers---allow me to retire with dignity and grace....like other states do.

9) And by the way, I started out making $800.00 per month and have lived as a single teacher ever since, and my quality of life keeps going down, though my degrees and experience keep going up. Attached is a vitae for your consideration of my plight.