Teachers used to be able to retire then go to their supervisor and ask to be rehired... Giving them two paychecks. A new law signed by Governor Jindal on Wednesday now changes that option.
At Northside High School in Lafayette, Rick Bailey is one of the few teachers to have a full career in education. Nearly half of all new hires drop-out within three years.
So, to recruit new teachers, the state offered an incentive. "If you could collect two checks for fifteen years," state lawmaker Page Cortez said. "Why would you not?" Cortez authored the new law to get rid of the old "retire and rehire" policy.
"You had teacher aides doing it, you had clerical workers doing it." Cortez says it was costing the state too much, "it wasn't what the original intention was for."