Mr. Tim Lee, Executive Director of Texas Retired Teachers Association, spoke in Fairfield on Tuesday night, October 2, 2018. In attendance were over 70 retired teachers, active teachers, administrators, board members, other representatives of TRTA from across the state. Texas counties represented were Freestone, Limestone, Navarro, Leon, Anderson, Mills, Hill.
Mr. Lee was here to update his audience on what to expect in the coming session as far as public-school employees are concerned. The picture he painted was pretty bleak.
He said there is no plan at this time to address the short fall due to the lowering of the assumption rate as it was voted on this past summer. The consequences of this action for active teachers is that they will continue to contribute to a system that might not have funds for their own retirement.
The consequence for currently retired teachers is that they should not expect a Cost of Living raise for the next 50 or up to 100 years. Currently retired teachers have not received a Cost of Living raise in the last 15 years.
Mr. Lee reminded everyone that many members of the Texas State Legislature are going to try to take the Defined Benefit Plan and exchange it for a Defined Contribution Plan. This is not good for teachers. This step would take a “promised” lifetime pension and replace it with a “maybe” pension which is little more than a glorified savings account. The current Defined Benefit Plan is built by contributions from state, employer, and employee. The Defined Contribution Plan will be built by contributions of employer and employee at a rate set by the legislature. Its value will vary depending on the current market value.
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE. Mr. Tim Lee advised everyone in attendance to vote. Each person should encourage family and friends to vote. There are enough public-school teachers in the state of Texas to elect officials who support our public schools. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.
