News and Music Discovery
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

KRTA Calls On Retired Teachers To Educate People About Pensions

Matt Markgraf
/
WKMS
KRTA Executive Director Tim Abrams

A nonprofit advocacy group representing retired teachers in Kentucky wants lawmakers to fully-fund a retiree health care plan in the next state budget. Kentucky Retired Teachers Association Executive Director Tim Abrams spoke to a local chapter in Murray on Monday.

According to a handout at the meeting, KRTA plans for the upcoming General Assembly include continuing to maintain Teachers Retirement System independence, continuing to fully fund the TRS, fully-funding the Shared Responsibility Plan and maintaining a defined benefit pension for future teachers.

Abrams said the current budget shorts the TRS Medical Insurance Fund $70 million. He said while that money could be drawn from a projected surplus this year, it’s not good fiscal practice. “And while it may work for this biennium, we really need that $70 million dollars back in there on the budget that comes out in 2020. And I want to educate our folks on that early - and often,” he said, and added that it’s important for members to advocate for that money.

According to the KRTA, the second year of the current budget requires TRS to pay what has been the state’s share of under 65 single health care out of the fund. The first $70 million of a surplus would go into the fund.

Abrams said active and retired teachers, school districts and the state contribute under the 2010 Shared Responsibility Plan. He said people misunderstand this and think it’s all state tax dollars.

He explained teachers made sacrifices in 2010 when the Shared Responsibility Plan passed and are asked to make sacrifices again in the current budget. “School districts agreed to pay three percent of certified salary into that fund at TRS. And active teachers agreed to taper in over time - where active teachers currently are paying additional 3.5 percent into retiree health insurance. They are making a sacrifice and they have been since 2010 to support this. And I think folks misunderstand that. They think that it’s all tax dollars.” He said a little more than 13 percent of working teachers’ checks go toward retiree health insurance and pension. He said the portion from the state is needed and is the state’s responsibility to contribute.  

“Rhetoric and False Information”

Abrams called on retired teachers to educate the public and state lawmakers about pensions. He said rhetoric that pensions systems have become an unstable, inverted pyramid of workers versus retirees is not true. He explained the majority of the money going into retired teachers’ bank accounts come from investment earnings. “It didn’t come from the second grade teacher that’s been contributing to her retirement down the street at Murray Independent School System. That’s not where your money came from. It’s not a pay-as-you-go system,” he said.

On another issue, Abrams said retired teachers in Kentucky receive an average benefit of around $36,000 a year and do not get social security benefits. He said a claim they average $60,000 comes from a small subset of retirees last year. He said there are around 48,000 retired teachers in Kentucky and that subset from July 1, 2017 to the end of 2017 was about 320 people.

KRTA is looking to form a committee of retired teachers to educate people about the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and to advocate for their repeal. These are federal Social Security issues, Abrams said. An example of GPO is if a teacher’s spouse has a job in the public sector, paid into social security, had a social security pension and then dies - the surviving teacher does not get survival benefits. An example of WEP is if a teacher worked another job - a second job - and paid into social security, they’d get a reduced social security benefit - about one-third of what they should receive. He said these are unfair policies.

Abrams urged retired teachers to educate other Kentuckians as well as lawmakers and stressed that “civil discourse is very important.”

Matt Markgraf joined the WKMS team as a student in January 2007. He's served in a variety of roles over the years: as News Director March 2016-September 2019 and previously as the New Media & Promotions Coordinator beginning in 2011. Prior to that, he was a graduate and undergraduate assistant. He is currently the host of the international music show Imported on Sunday nights at 10 p.m.
Related Content