The Pella School Board approved an early retirement policy at their most recent meeting. Superintendent Greg Ebeling says it’s not easy to lose the type of institutional experience lost when any staff member retires, but budget realities have made it necessary to find ways to save money in the general fund for salaries. He says early retirement policies allow them to tap into a different fund levied by property tax to pay benefits for teachers who opt into their retirement before the age of 65, and in turn, hire teachers lower on the salary scale as replacements to help offset low state supplemental aid increases and fluctuating enrollment. Ebeling says by doing early retirement, it buys extra years for the district to avoid having to make deeper cuts to programming. There are 56 staff members eligible, and seven who would qualify for the maximum benefit, according to documents published at this week’s Pella School Board meeting.