A provision tucked into Gov. Paterson’s recent pension overhaul would let thousands of teachers draw retirement checks years early.

The early-retirement program will allow roughly 6,000 school employees between the ages of 55 and 62 to retire early with no penalties by reducing the pension qualifying time from 30 years to 25 years.

Paterson signed off on the arrangement in December to win passage of his Tier V pension-reform plan.

E.J. McMahon of the business-backed Manhattan Institute said the perk will only aggravate the state’s looming pension crisis.

The program could cost state and local taxpayers up to an estimated $15.8 million a year.

“It doesn’t fix any problem except make retirement quicker and easier for a few thousand teachers,” McMahon said.

“It will lead to some short-term relief for some school districts looking to shift costs and at the same time marginally compound the long-term burden on the pension fund.”

The 90-day early-retirement window would open June 1, if the bill, which is being carried by Sen. Diane Savino (D-SI) and Assemblyman Peter Abbate Jr. (D-Brooklyn), passes the Assembly and gets signed by Paterson. It was approved by the Senate Monday.

Some 6,000 employees from school districts outside of the city would be eligible: 5,000 in the state Teachers Retirement System and 1,000 in the state’s general pension fund.

City teachers, who enjoyed a similar early-retirement offer in 2008, are not included in the program. The bill passed 49-11, with 19 Republicans joining 30 Democrats voting yes.

Sens. Craig Johnson (LI) and Jeffrey Klein (Bronx) were the only Democrats to vote no.

Supporters argue the bill will help districts trim their payrolls in advance of proposed school-aid cuts.

“The long-term costs to the pension fund are fairly small,” said New York State United Teachers President Richard Iannuzzi. In the short term, Iannuzzi added, “districts will be able to maintain some of the positions that they would have cut.”

Meanwhile, the Manhattan Institute released a report calling into question dire warnings from teachers unions about layoffs in the face of Paterson’s proposed budget cuts.

The analysis of state data showed the state added 14,746 teachers between 2001 and 2009, even as enrollment fell by 121,280.

The think tank found a similar trend in the city, which it said added 7,072 teachers to cut down class size while the student population shrank by 62,670.

The Department of Education disputes the figures, saying its teacher pool has increased by only a few hundred positions.

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