We know that the Scotland County school system, like the state, has had to make some tough choices with its budget.

But that doesn't make the recent decision to nix the contracts of two dozen retired teachers any more palatable.

In a 1A story today, staff reporter Johnny Woodard explains how school officials, worried over the possibility that the state might ban the employment of retired teachers, decided to act.

Other school systems in the state have adopted a similar tactic, so it is hard to say whether the decision was a hasty.

It is understandable that school systems are antsy about how to prepared for the coming school year with the General Assembly dragging its feet on extending the 2001 statute that allows retired educators to double dip in the system.

For the past 8 years, these teachers have been able to return to the public schools and earn a salary without losing retirement benefits. The only requirement was that they wait six months before applying to teach again.

The law was set to expire in 2002, but every year, state lawmakers extended the life of the statute.

That is until this year, when lawmakers began looking at the high cost of employing former educators, versus younger, less experienced teachers who often come with a lower price tag.

That may have lot to do with our own school system's proactive approach.

But if that is the case, is the money that the state and the county save really worth the cost of losing experienced educators? One would think that teachers with decades in the classroom would be prized for their knowledge and skill.

We should remember that when school officials talk about quality education. Because while talk is cheap, a good education is not.