Administrators are also expecting the first large wave of teacher retirements "as baby boomers reach that time of life," Mr. McKenzie said.

They spend $510 per student per year on teacher retirement and $13 per student on textbooks," he said, "so tell us again about your strategic plan?

In some places, teacher retirements are not just part of the problem, they are also part of the solution.

The district also had a large number of teacher retirements this year; since their replacements start lower on the pay scale, the turnover cut the district's payroll by $600,000.

While the battered economy has meant fewer teacher retirements than expected, many school districts still have openings in math, science, special education and English as a second language.

The resignations, with thousands of teacher retirements, will transform the leadership of New York City schools.

The teacher turnover rate has been average the last few years due to teacher retirement, district reductions and normal turnover.

Westonites are outraged about a cut of $424,000 in state aid to the town and mandated new spending of $289,000 for teacher retirement, Mr. Guidera said.

The Department of Education estimates that because of rising enrollments and teacher retirements, the nation's public schools will need one million new teachers over the next five years.

Unfortunately, Russian and Latin will no longer to be offer due to teacher retirements.