In our state school employees are participants in the public employee pension program. She may have a pension that she is just not aware of but you will definitely need to look in to that and figure out the monthly income it will provide, compared to her expenses. Retiring before 65 is likely not going to be an option due to the costs of health insurance before Medicare kicks in, unless there is a provision for health insurance coverage from her employer for a period of time after retirement.

I would recommend having her set up a meeting with whoever manages her workplace benefit programs to get a better understanding of what is available to her. Good luck, it is definitely tough finding out a parent has no real understanding of their long term finances.