If state Rep. John Dorn takes a cue from his colleagues in District 23 and decides 2006 is a good year to retire, the amount of legislative experience being lost in one year will nearly double — to 42 years.

Next year will mark Dorn’s 20th year in the House, nearly the combined experience of Sen. John Hottinger, who will have 16 years in at the end of 2006, and Rep. Ruth Johnson, who will have six.

Dorn said he doesn’t know yet whether he will run again. His habit has been to wait until the end of the second legislative session of each two-year term to make a decision.

Typically, those sessions began in January or early February and ended in early spring. This year, lawmakers aren’t going back to the Capitol until March 1, and the session might last well into May.

Dorn said he knows he probably can’t wait that long to decide.

“Whatever I do, I’m going to have to veer from whatever my usual desired timeline is,” he said. “... I’ll probably have to decide earlier than I usually do.”

Dorn has officially retired as a full-time teacher at East Junior High School, and he recognizes that legislative service doesn’t mesh well with taking the fall and spring vacations that have been denied to him and his wife, Kathy, by campaigns and legislative sessions.

“You really are committing to be on call for two straight years, any time, any place,” Dorn said.

But he concedes his ability to walk away from teaching hasn’t been particularly impressive to date. He’s worked as a substitute teacher in various classrooms all but about 10 days of the school year.

“I’m obviously a total failure at retirement,” he said.

After serving in the majority in the House for most of his two decades there, including as chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, Dorn has been in the minority since the Republican takeover of the House in the 1998 election.

In the 2004 general election, Democrats nearly took the majority back and are just two seats short of the Republicans. The DFL is optimistic about regaining control following next year’s election, which might give Dorn incentive to stick around.

So might the prospect of leaving District 23 with a rookie senator and two rookie House members all at the same time.

“Certainly I’ve thought about what we’re losing,” he said. “But, again, I know there are folks who would step in. That’s a trap I’ve tried not to fall into — that there are just a few of us who can do this. There are tons of people.”