The General Assembly might be ready to float a golden parachute to the education world as it considers repairs to the state’s retirement system.

School districts are facing an impending leadership crisis in the next several years, worsened by a state retirement incentive plan that likely would force many education executives to leave their jobs.

Under the state’s current Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive plan, state employees, including school officials, are allowed to automatically continue working after they retire. But they must leave after five years or continue working under a salary cap of $50,000.

During the next four years, 41 of the 85 district superintendents will come to the end of their TERI time.

The same is true for 29 percent of all school principals, 22 percent of assistant principals and thousands of classroom teachers.

Because of nationwide shortages in education leadership, the school districts likely would have faced a crisis with so many people leaving in a such a short period of time.

An amendment in a Senate bill passed April 7, however, would allow those educators — and any state employee — to stay on the job, at the employer’s discretion, while earning the same pay.

A pending House bill up for debate in a couple of weeks is expected to include the same perk.

“Some of us weren’t particularly happy about it,” said Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Beaufort. “But if we didn’t do it, people like the president of South Carolina State (University) would have to leave next year.”

The TERI plan allows state employees to technically retire, but keep their jobs for up to five years while their pensions are put into trusts.

The new rule would apply only to those currently enrolled in the TERI program, but it would represent a huge windfall for some because it removes the existing earnings cap on returning employees.

That means education administrators in high need — many who earn more than $80,000 a year — would be able to receive their pension and their full salary, as well as collect the five years’ worth of banked funds.

While any state employee can opt for the TERI plan, about half of those on the plan work in school districts, according to the State Budget and Control Board.

The number of educators who took advantage of the TERI plan created a bubble of eligible administrators that was about to pop at a time when school leaders already are hard to find.

“South Carolina faces a critical shortage in school leadership, and the Senate revisions will help schools and districts meet leadership needs in the coming years,” said Molly Spearman, director of the S.C. Association of School Administrators.

Schools need to know soon what the law will offer, she said. Since it’s April, districts “are getting contracts to people now who will be affected by TERI during the next school year,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the past several years, making up for the employee shortfall often has meant turning to workers from abroad.

“We’re having to recruit out of country for many positions,” said Steve Hefner, superintendent of Richland 2. “I would hate for us to lose the expertise we have in our communities because (employees) were prohibited from working because they had retired or there wasn’t enough incentive for them to work.”

Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, says while he sympathizes with schools, he believes TERI is one of the worst programs ever created in South Carolina.

“It was originally supposed to be created just for teachers, but they left a giant loophole” that allowed all state employees to take advantage of the program, he said.

Partly because of the TERI program, the state’s pension system has become stretched beyond its acceptable debt limit.

The greater changes to the retirement system now under consideration are an attempt to cut the debt so cost-of-living adjustments can be granted to retirees this year.

A House subcommittee approved plans for a bill that would make TERI less attractive in the future by empowering employers to fire workers for any reason. That’s expected to cut the number of people on the TERI plan, since employees now can automatically continue to work.

Ryberg said lawmakers had little choice but to go along with the Senate amendment that allows current TERI participants to go back to work at an unlimited salary.

“It’s a legal issue,” he said. “The most we can do is try to close (that option) to new TERI employees.”

Reach Roko at (803) 771-8409 or eroko@thestate.com.