Letters: TERI never did feel right

When I retired from USC in 2000, this new Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive seemed too good to be true. Basically, I could retire and work for up to five additional years. Imagine earning up to five more years of full pay while my retirement benefits piled up in a state trust.

Officials claimed the idea was to keep good teachers in the classroom for five more years, although others felt it was designed to urge bad teachers to retire within five years so younger teachers with fresh knowledge and skills could fill their positions.

But I was good and ready to retire and chose to pass on TERI. Earning my salary while adding to my retirement account at the same time did not feel right.

For years I wondered if I had passed on a deal too good to be true.

Now that TERI has come home to roost (“Why up to 7,500 S.C. teachers, workers could quit next year,” June 25), it appears that our state has decided it was.

This story was originally published July 1, 2017 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Letters: TERI never did feel right."