Rehiring the Retired: An Examination of Double Dipping in Public School Districts

This study provides a data analysis to identify the prevalence of double dipping in the New York State education system. Pension data, earnings in retirement, and hand-collected governance data are used in the statistical analyses. Collectively, and to our knowledge, these data sources have not been used in prior school district research. Findings from the univariate and cross-sectional analyses used to explore the association between school-board governance characteristics and double dipping suggest that the presence of budget committees, superintendent tenure, and school-board size may impact decisions to rehire retirees. This research contributes to the extant literature by providing the first comprehensive study of the economic impact of double dipping. School district administrators and state regulators may find the analysis helpful for evaluating decisions to hire recent retirees to fill school district vacancies and for evaluating policy implications to preserve the integrity of government pension plans.