"There are a lot of retirees who feel like they don't want to retire, but financially they feel like this is the best time to do it," district spokeswoman Melinda Colton said.

A new accounting rule requiring the district and other government entities to fund retirement benefits as they accrue rather than after retirement occurs earlier this year led the Jordan Board of Education to eliminate retirement benefits specific to the Jordan district, such as post-retirement health insurance and payouts for unused sick leave.

Board members said the rule change made maintaining current benefits too expensive.

Employees who remain with the district will see some retirement benefits freeze, while new employees will not receive the same package of perks. Those who are retiring are leaving to take advantage of existing benefits before the changes take effect.

As of May 1, 2005, 80 teachers had announced their intent to retire. That number jumped to 201 by the beginning of this month and is expected to increase. Employees can submit their retirement letters until the end of June.

That's a huge loss of ''really experienced, talented, dedicated teachers,'' said Scott Berryessa, president of the Jordan Education Association, which represents more than 2,000 teachers of the district's 3,700 teachers. "I don't know how the district will overcome that."

Colton said the district will work to replace the departing pool of teachers, and is recruiting more aggressively than usual throughout the Intermountain West. Jordan typically hires about 350 to 400 new teachers each year drawing from a group of up to 1,000 applicants.

While the landslide of retirees includes some who were already at the end of their careers, retiring wasn't something Shauna Dean, 56, even had considered until talk of the benefits change.

"I was very sad," said Dean, who had worked for most of her 28 years in Jordan district as an elementary school teacher before retiring in January.

However, leaving this year meant she could keep her health insurance and a few extras. With children in college and parents to take care of, the package gave her a boost at a time she needed it most.

Dean was one of seven teachers retiring at Mountain Shadows Elementary in West Jordan this year. Despite the large number leaving, Principal Spencer Jacobs says the school will cope well.

"You always miss the experienced teachers, but we've found some very good people," he said. "So I don't feel like we're going to be hurt by it."

jlyon@sltrib.com