Last Meeting of the 2010-2011 Year

The last meeting of 2010-2011 will be held at Lutheran Life Villages, 6701 S. Anthony Blvd. Fort Wayne, IN at 11:00 A.M on Wednesday, June 1. The cost of luncheon is $6.00. Please send reservations to Mary Jo Purvis at mpurvis1@frontier.com or call 493-4263 approximately 1 week before the meeting.

The minutes and treasury report will be circulated to members. It will need a motion and second on each to be placed in the records. There will also be committee reports for your information on what AREA has completed in 2010-2011. The main purpose of this meeting is to vote on the slate of officers for 2011-2013 and have social time.

Incoming Officers:
Co-Presidents – Richard Block & John Wearly
President Elect – Carol Buttell
First vice president – Barb Kanning
Recording secretary – Carolyn Vanice
Assistant recording secretary- Carol Terwilliger
Corresponding Secretary – Madeline Garvin
Treasurer – Joy Bodine
Archives – Bruce Oliver
Legislative – Bruce Oliver
Membership – Pam George
Associate membership – Bev Brunson
Nominations – All
Programs – Executive officers and committee chairpersons
Publicity – Virginia Jones
Social – Beth Sorgen & Arlene Kruckeberg
Organizer of places – Mary Jo Purvis
Gift of Books – Dr. Carol Buttell
Eyeglass project – Ed Delong
Volunteer hour’s chairperson – Marilyn McDougle

Congratulations to the members who have volunteered to lead AREA for 2011-2013.

AREA officers are requesting your $10.00 dues be paid for 2011-2012 at this meeting or mailed to Joy Bodine, Treasurer, by June 30, 2011. By receiving membership information and dues at this time, the fall membership directory may be printed. Joy Bodine 12726 Schooner Dr. Fort Wayne, IN 46845

Click here to get a copy of this letter with the membership form for printing and mailing.

Pam George will be recognized as one of the eight recipients of Volunteers of the Year Awards for IRTA. Stu Bloom will be recognized for setting up and maintaining our web site. AREA received first place in web site award by IRTA. This is a wonderful honor to have these two members to bring recognition for themselves and AREA.

In closing, I would like to thank all the members for joining AREA, coming to meeting, volunteering for AREA over my years as President. In addition, I appreciate all of the work of the officers and committee chairpersons. AREA would not be able to function without these volunteers. I have enjoyed meeting members through meetings, email and telephone calls. I will continue to be involved with AREA as a Past President.

Thank you and Blessings to all, Jeanne Hertig

The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries

The following article appeared on the NY Times Editorial Page on April 30, 2011. It's titled, The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries.

WHEN we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don’t blame the soldiers. We don’t say, “It’s these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! That’s why we haven’t done better in Afghanistan!” No, if the results aren’t there, we blame the planners. We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No one contemplates blaming the men and women fighting every day in the trenches for little pay and scant recognition.

And yet in education we do just that. When we don’t like the way our students score on international standardized tests, we blame the teachers. When we don’t like the way particular schools perform, we blame the teachers and restrict their resources.

CLICK HERE to read the entire article.

Legislative Bulletin #4

Indiana Retired Teachers Association
May 4, 2011

Budget Bill Passes with Amendment 21 -- a One Time Payment (13th Check)

The Indiana General Assembly adjourned on Friday, April 29, after approving the budget for 2011-2013. Amendment 21 was included, which secures a one-time payment (13th check) for retired teachers. The amendment to the budget bill was originally presented by Sen. Vaneta Becker (R-Evansville). After an eloquent presentation, the full Senate voted 49-0 to approve the amendment. Sen. Lindel Hume (D-Princeton) also spoke in favor of Amendment 21. Sen. Tom Wyss was not able to vote on the amendment because of his excused absence.

After the vote, Sen. Vaneta Becker said to retired teachers and retired public workers, “You deserve this payment, and I was glad to help. I appreciate your many years of service and teaching the children of the State of Indiana.”

You can see the amount you will receive from Sen. Becker’s amendment here: http://in.gov/legislative/bills/2011/SAMF/MO1001552.021.html

Please send a letter of appreciation or an email to Sen. Vaneta Becker for authoring this amendment to: s50@in.gov. You can send an email to Sen. Lindel Hume at: s48@in.gov.

Provision to Reduce the Unfunded Liability of the Teacher Retirement Fund

The provision added by Sen. Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) was also included. This addition would pay down the $11 billion in unfunded teacher pension liabilities the state faces. The provision provides that one half of any surplus over 10% would apply to the unfunded liability of the Teacher Retirement Fund through the Pension Stabilization Fund.

Please send a letter or email of appreciation to Sen. Luke Kenley at s20@in.gov for authoring this amendment.

Sen. Kenley was quoted in the Indianapolis Star as follows, "If we begin to pay that down now with today's dollars, that will have an enormous beneficial impact for all the budgets to be done for the next 25 years."

Our officers and board thank you for all your support. Your emails and letters to legislators ARE making a difference.

Andrew P. Thomas, Executive Director
Indiana Retired Teachers Association
2629 Waterfront Pkwy East Dr., Ste. 105
Indianapolis, IN 46214
Telephone (317) 637-7481
Toll-free (888) 454-9333
WEB SITE: www.retiredteachers.org