President's Letter - April 2018

Dear Allen County Retired Educators,

Our third of four annual meetings will be held MONDAY, APRIL 29 at BIAGGI’S RISTORANTE, Jefferson Pointe. We will begin our meeting promptly at 11:00 a.m. Please arrive by 10:45 a.m. to check in and pay for your lunch. Indiana’s General Assembly contributes $30 million of Lottery revenue to the Indiana State Teachers Retirement Fund. Hoosier Lottery’s Executive Director, Sarah Taylor, will greet members and answer questions at our luncheon registration and will provide a Lottery gift basket as a door prize.

RESERVATIONS: Please make your reservations with MARY JO PURVIS at 260-492-6992 or mpurvis1@frontier.com by FRIDAY, APRIL 19. ** If RSVP is late—members may be put on a wait-list. AREA must pay for the final count so members that make reservations and then can’t attend—should contact Mary Jo. Then “wait-listers” can be contacted. Your lunch will cost $15.00 payable when you arrive (cash or check only please). If you are a 2018 retired teacher or administrator (attending the first time) your meal is FREE. Members who bring a nonmember retiree (attending the first time) will get a TWO-FOR-ONE deal for lunch. Let Mary Jo know this when you make your reservation. Please encourage your retired educator friends to attend.

PROGRAM: Emily Oberlin, Director New Tech at Wayne High School will present this innovative teaching/learning initiative and share stories of student struggles and success.

Legislative updates will be shared relative to educator pensions and education bills.

DIRECTORY: If you have not picked up your 2018-19 Membership Directory, there will be copies available at this meeting. It is free to all paid members, or it can be sent to you for an additional $2.00 mailing fee.

DUES: If you have not paid your 2018-19 AREA DUES OF $15.00, please contact Pam George at 260-471-5952 or pamgeorgeph@comcast.net or 6316 Tree Top Trail, Fort Wayne, 46845. She also has IRTA membership information—IRTA impacts state retirement benefits and education change and can provide financial rewards (AMBA) with your membership. Please consider joining IRTA through automatic dues deduction from your TRF pension.

EYEGLASSES: Bring your “old” eyeglasses for Ed Delong to collect for the Lions Club.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
—Tuesday, April 9, 2019, 9:00-11:15 am: Annual Legislator-Educator Brunch at the Statehouse, 200 West Washington, Indianapolis. If you can attend and want to carpool—please call or text me at 260-433-6599 or email me at lepper@msn.com ASAP. If you plan to drive separately to Indianapolis and/or ride the IRTA bus to the Statehouse, you need to RSVP directly to IRTA by email to lharris@retiredteachers.org or call 888-454-9333 no later than March 29. The bus will leave the IRTA office (2629 Waterfront Parkway East Drive, Indianapolis, 46214) at 8:30 a.m. You are to park on the northwest side of the building. Please contact your legislators and invite them to meet with you at the BRUNCH. If you cannot attend, please email your legislators of the need for a COLA or at the very least an increased “13th Check”.

—Wednesday, June 26, 2019: Pine Valley Country Club. Program by Sgt. Chris O’Connor, FWPD discussing Scams and How to Protect Yourself.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU MONDAY, APRIL 29

###

Legislative Brunch

WHAT: Legislative Brunch

WHEN: April 9, 2019, 9:00 A.M.—11:15 A.M.

WHERE: The Indiana State House, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, 46204

WHO: All AREA Members

Many of you have received a Legislative Brunch information letter from IRTA. AREA urges you to attend this important day and lobby for a COLA or at the very least an increase to the “13th Check”.

You are certainly welcome to drive to Indianapolis on your own. However if you would like to carpool, AREA will make every effort to arrange rides. If you want to carpool, please Kathy Lepper by March 28. Carpooling basic plans are to meet southwest off Highway 24 behind Halls Tavern Coventry in the Comfort Suites South parking lot at approximately 6:30 a.m, Tuesday, April 9. The plan is to drive to the IRTA office and ride the bus from there—to and from the Statehouse.

If you plan to drive separately to Indianapolis and then ride the IRTA bus to the Statehouse, you need to RSVP directly to IRTA by email to lharris@retiredteachers.org or call 888-454-9333 no later than March 29. The bus will leave the IRTA office at 8:30 a.m. You are to park on the northwest side of the building. The IRTA office address is 2629 Waterfront Parkway East Drive, Indianapolis, 46214.

You may drive downtown to the Statehouse on your own, but you still need to RSVP to IRTA so there are sufficient brunch offerings.

Additionally—please contact your legislators and invite them to meet with you at the BRUNCH. If you cannot attend, please email your legislators of the need for a COLA/increased “13th Check”.

###

Indiana EdCast Episode #54 — Legislative Update #5

Welcome and thanks for listening to Episode #54 of IRTA's podcast, Indiana EdCast!

We are joined once by our chief lobbyist, Steve Beebe from Beebe, Scherer and Associates. We welcome Steve and look forward to his thoughts on this year’s General Assembly begins.

The session has hit halftime and education funding was the most heard about issue in the House and the hate crimes bill just in the past week came forward in the Senate and will continue to be the two most contentious items in 2nd half. Overall about 200 bills in the House and 200 in the Senate have made it to half time from over 1700 original bills file.

Legislature Changes – We've been getting through to many of our legislators that are new this session. I have not been through this many changes in my four years but I am really impressed with the group in both houses.

At this point if you see or contact your representative, thank them for voting in support of HB 1139 (13th Check). If you contact or see your State Senator ask them to support the HB 1139 plus an increase. Steve and I will be meeting with Senate committee leadership next week to encourage increasing the 13th Check. The final decision will not be made until near the end of session after the April Budget forecast comes out.

Click HERE to listen to the 28 minute episode.

🎧-🎧-🎧