COLUMBIA - State employees, already burdened by job cuts, higher insurance premiums and a few years without raises, now are worried a relatively new retirement benefit could be cut.

The Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive program was created in 2000 to keep experienced educators in schools, but it covers all state employees.

Under the program, state employees can retire after 28 years and continue to work for up to five years while putting their retirement pay into a special savings account. Some 13,000 state employees are enrolled in the program; about 6,000 of those are public school employees.

Critics say the incentive program keeps mediocre employees along with the good ones. They also say it keeps older workers in their positions longer, preventing promotions for younger employees and keeping new people from entering the work force. And some lawmakers say it costs too much.

Rep. Herb Kirsh, D-Clover, has filed a bill to phase out the program and a backup bill that would eliminate a provision giving participants more annual leave.

"I really, truthfully, honestly think it needs to go," Kirsh said. "I think it's going to break the retirement system in a few more years."

Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, also wants a change in the program. Just one element -- accrued annual leave -- will cost the state $85 million extra over five years, he said. When an employee retires, he is paid for any annual leave he has built up -- up to 45 days. When an employee enters the incentive program, he can accrue another 45 days of leave.

The annual leave issue is a problem, admits John Robinson, legislative consultant with the S.C. Association of School Administrators and executive director of the S.C. Association for Rural Education. Robinson has studied the TERI program. He recommends eliminating the second payout of the 45 days annual leave and says most educators would agree to that modification.

Robinson says the program can slow younger employees trying to get ahead, but older employees are needed to add experience and knowledge. "It slows the process of promotion, but it also helps the agency in hard times," he said.

A common complaint among critics is how program participants are chosen. Gov. Mark Sanford said one of his biggest concerns was that employees decide whether they will participate, making budgeting for the program virtually impossible.

Ryberg introduced legislation last year to end the incentive program. The bill is expected to be taken up again when lawmakers return to Columbia in January.

A group created by Sanford to study waste in government, the Management, Accountability and Performance Commission, recommended eliminating the program because of its overall costs.

That recommendation faces opposition from the S.C. State Employees Association.

Executive director Broadus Jamerson said the program is a "tremendous benefit" for state employees who have had to take on more health care costs while their benefits have been trimmed. They also have been forced to go without pay increases because of budget cuts.

The attempt to eliminate the program is "another assault on state employees' benefits," Jamerson said. The incentive program is working, he said.

"It's retaining experienced employees. That's what it's designed to do," Jamerson said.

Jan McCarthy, president of the S.C. Education Association, said the TERI program offers an incentive to veteran educators who might otherwise retire after 28 to 30 years of service. The experience offered by those teachers is especially important now with state and federal laws requiring higher education standards and greater accountability, she said.

She rejects the argument that the program keeps unqualified employees around.

"If someone is working 28 years and is considered to be a bad teacher, then there's an administrator who's not done his job," she said.

Phillip Ashley, a music specialist at Honea Path Elementary and Wright Elementary in Anderson County, is in his second year of the program and his 30th year of teaching.

Ashley said the incentives offered him a way to earn more money for retirement and continue a few more years in the profession he loves. "To me, it's a reward for teachers," he said. "It's an incentive to keep teachers in the classroom."

Sanford said it's unlikely lawmakers will dismantle the program in the upcoming election year, but it could be modified.

"There is rightfully a lot of angst from state employees given the difficult times this year. Any alteration we would make would have state employees in mind," Sanford said. Still, he added, "An important part of looking out for state employees is having a government that runs well."