Who Works In Schools?

By: Mike Hagerty, CFO, MSBO President, Asst. Superintendent, Administrative Services, Kent ISD

Grab a piece of paper and pen, it’s quiz time!! Let’s check your knowledge of who makes up the employees in our schools today. Here are three questions…

#1 Which is the largest segment of employees in our schools today?

A.    Those with 0-4 years of service
B.    Those with 15-19 years of service
C.    Those with 25-29 years of service
D.    Those with more than 30 years of service

#2 Which of the following age group has the most employees in our schools today?

A.    Under 30 years old
B.    40-44 years old
C.    45-49 years old
D.    50-54 years old

#3 At what age group do employees reach their highest average pay?

A.    40-44 years old
B.    45-49 years old
C.    50-54 years old
D.    55-59 years old

For all your answers look at the chart below, which was produced by GRS Retirement Consulting as part of the MPSERS annual actuarial valuation analysis.

I don’t know about you, but a few numbers from this chart of active members in the DB program shocked me. Consider this…

Nearly 32% (59,998 of 187,735) of employees in the system have 0-4 years of service. No wonder I don’t recognize anyone any longer!

At 10,173, the largest segment of employees in the system are 25-29 years old with 0-4 years of service. If you were wondering, the Millennials have arrived!
There are 19,455 employees that have been in the system for 10-14 years but over 3x’s that (59,998) have been in the system for 0-4 years. Perhaps we have a retention problem?
There certainly aren’t many people hanging around after they are eligible for retirement as only 5.3% of active employees have 30 or more years in the system (10,032/187,735)
One last one to think about, the average pay for those in the 35-39 age range is higher than those in the 55-59 age range.

As President of MSBO, I’m asked to write an article each month. I’ve tried in each article to bring an interesting “data point” districts can use. I’d ask you take a minute to share the above chart inside your district. What does this data tell you? What impact will it have on the future of education? I don’t know the answer, but I do know I’m going to start being nicer to those darn Millennials as they certainly outnumber us old folks!!

Who Works In Schools?

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