Ohio Teacher Retirements Increase As School Start Dates Near

Ohio teachers are retiring at a higher rate this summer compared to the same period last year. 

Since July 1, 370 teachers have applied for retirement, according to the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System (STRS). 

STRS spokesman Nick Treneff told ideastream that’s roughly double the number of applications normally received in July and early August, calling the numbers “unusual.” 

“While it doesn’t exactly represent a rush to the door, it does represent an increase over what we saw last year,” Treneff said. 

Treneff said retirement applications held steady at the beginning of the summer, when teachers typically retire, but have increased as the back-to-school season nears. STRS doesn’t ask teachers why they are retiring, he said, but anxiety over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic may have something to do with it.

“With the uncertainty around COVID and the start up in the classrooms and seeing an increase that is above and beyond what we saw last year that could very well explain it,” he said.

Gov. Mike DeWine said that as of Tuesday, 325 Ohio school districts – approximately 38 percent of the state’s public school students – will start the 2020-21 academic year in the classroom. More than 25 percent of the state’s student population will be learning remotely and another approximately 25 percent will be on a hybrid model. The governor said there are 78 districts for which the state did not yet have data.

A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association this week reiterated children are not, in fact, immune to the virus and counted 7,815 Ohio children testing positive for the coronavirus during the last two weeks of July.

STRS will have a better idea of what caused the uptick in retirements when they have the total number of teachers retiring this school year, Treneff said, but that won’t be until the beginning of next summer. 

Typically, about 2,500 teachers retire annually in Ohio.