The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 01/23/03
Schrenko gets full pension after all
By HENRY UNGER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Linda Schrenko won't have to mop floors to qualify for her full state pension after all.
It turns out the former state school superintendent does not have to work another 12 days to get credit for a full 30 years, according to Cecelia Corbin Hunter, director of the Employees Retirement System of Georgia.
"She never needed the 12 days that she thought she did," Hunter said Wednesday. "She is fully vested."
Schrenko, 53, left office Jan. 13 after eschewing a bid for re-election in favor of an unsuccessful run for governor. Fearing she stood to lose thousands of dollars a year in bene- fits, she said she was contacting state leaders and department heads looking for work.
"I'll strap on a gun and go downstairs and guard the building. I'll be a secretary, I will clean, I'll be a custodian. I really don't care. I need 12 days of doing anything," Schrenko said several weeks ago.
Schrenko got no special treatment, Hunter said, as employees who retire in the middle of a month get credit for the entire month. Hunter said Schrenko will receive $5,154 a month -- $61,848 a year. Her salary as superintendent was $9,398 a month.
Schrenko, who left office amid criticism that she rarely showed up at her state office in recent months, began a job search this month.
Schrenko said she may finish out the school year for a middle school science teacher who will be taking pregnancy leave in Taliaferro County, east of Atlanta. "It sounds like something I would enjoy doing," said Schrenko, who taught for about two decades in Columbia County, near Augusta.
Taliaferro Assistant Superintendent Al Arbee said Wednesday that Schrenko has not filled out an application. If she does, he said, "we will consider her along with the other applicants."
