Update to Legislative Update

This is an update to Legislative Update #7

March 26, 2015

            CALL TO ACTION!                                             CALL TO ACTION!

Members, we are now at the point where we need to make it known how many are watching what the Senate will do with HB 1481, the COLA bill. It was heard yesterday in the Pensions and Labor Committee. We testified for it; however, the chairman did not take a vote on it, but we hope that it will be reassigned to the Appropriations Committee for further discussion. We are in the process of trying to talk to each member on that committee.

NOW, IT IS TIME FOR EACH OF YOU TO HELP US BY CONTACTING THE PRESIDENT PRO-TEM OF THE SENATE, SENATOR DAVID LONG.

Letters and emails should be short, polite, and firm: Use only one or two of these bullet points:

• There is money in the INPRS budget for a COLA because the actuaries have put in a 1 % assumption that we would be getting a COLA.
• This assumption has been there each year, even the last six when we did not get a COLA.
• Even though the school corporations pay this extra 1%, it has been put toward the unfunded liability, one that was created by former administrations—not by teachers or school corporations.
• Inflation over the last six plus years has taken away about 13 % of our purchasing power.
• We spend this money in our communities and pay taxes on it, as do the business people from whom we purchase food, medicine, etc. (Put in places where you spend much of your money.)
• A COLA in this biennium will only set back the final pay-off of the unfunded liability a few months further than as if we got nothing.
• There are 12,936 Indiana retired teachers from the pre-’96 fund who get $1000 or less in their monthly pension. They deserve some help as inflation eats away at these small amounts.

And PLEASE, find five to ten others that will also write to the Senator. We must let the Republican caucus in the Senate know that we are strong and determined. We are not asking for much, and the members of the House acknowledge that. It is time that the Senate does also!
Letters should be addressed to:

The Honorable David Long
200 W. Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204

emails should go to: Senator.Long@iga.in.gov

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Legislative Update #7

March 24, 2015

Hello:

We wanted to update you on what is going on in the legislature this week. Movement is beginning again on Bills in the Senate. Senator Boots, chair of Pensions and Labor committee, has scheduled HB1481 to be heard tomorrow (Wednesday, March 25) at 9:00 A.M. At this time we have heard various rumors such as: it will be heard with no action; heard and voted on; heard and amended from a COLA to a 13th check…. Nancy will testify on behalf of the bill moving forward with the COLA, but will support the 13th check if it is amended and ask for the amount of the checks to be raised, since they have not been for many years.

Steve, Nancy, and I have been meeting with Senators on the Pensions and Labor committee and Senate Appropriations on behalf of the COLA in HB1481. We have been sharing the information that the 1% COLA formula will cost less than the assumption INPRS established when presenting the 1% COLA for the biennium. That savings can be used to pay down the pre-96 unfunded liability, while still giving a very modest increase on our base pensions. We are attaching a letter that Nancy and Steve put together that was mailed to all senators and senators on the Pensions and Labor Committee also received an email copy.

Final decisions on bills with cost factors and their effect on the general fund will not be finalized until the April Revenue Forecast is received. We are confident that the last two weeks of the session will be very busy. Once we see the how HB1481 stands after the committee hearing, we will be targeting the Senate Appropriation Committee members with meetings.

You will receive another update later this week after we see what shape HB1481 is in after the hearing. If you talk, see, or write to your senators, please encourage them to support HB1481.

Thank you for your continued work on the committee and the support of our legislative agenda.

Sincerely,

Nancy, Tom and Steve

Change of Speaker for April 16

We have a change in the speaker for our AREA April 16, 2015 meeting. Dr. Jacobson, Dean of Ball State University Teachers College, was to speak. I received a phone call, and he has to attend a conference on Research in Chicago that day. He does want to speak at one of our meetings, but we will have to wait until next year because we are already booked for our June 16 meeting. One of the former students in the Ball State Teachers College Immersive Learning program, Abigail Savage, will be speaking at our June 16 meeting, as scheduled. Abby often presents with Dr. Jacobson.

Never fear!! We have a great program for April 16! Our own Pam George will be presenting a Power Point on her three week mission trip to Kenya last fall. She had some wonderful experiences. Thanks, Pam. We won't have to wait until next year to hear about your trip!

Members, the next AREA Newsletter about our April 16 meeting will be arriving in your mailbox soon! Make sure that the date is on your calendar! Try to bring a non-member or a member who has not attended in awhile!

Carol Buttell, President

Legislative News

Legislative News!!

A bill to give a COLA for the next two years passed the House on third reading on Wednesday afternoon. It passed 94 to 0!

It will now go to the Senate, where Senator Boots is the sponsor and Senator Tallian is the second sponsor. Please write to them to express your appreciation for their sponsorship.

If you have not yet thanked the House members who sponsored and worked on our bills, please do so now.

Senator Boots: Senator.Boots@iga.in.gov
Senator Tallian: s4@iga.in.gov

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2015 Legislative Bulletin #5

Indiana Retired Teachers Association Legislative Bulletin Five

Exciting news!
The House Ways and Means Committee met on Wednesday, February 18. They heard HB 1481 which allows for a two-year COLA. Two amendments were offered and both passed and were added to the bill.

These amendments changed the bill so that it reads a Defined Benefit is still the default option, but teachers will be able to choose the defined Contribution if they want to. It also was changed so that it reads that teachers would make the choice, not the school corporation. The bill passed the Ways and Means Committee unanimously!

In its present form, the bill allows a one per cent COLA for September, 2015, and a 1.7 per cent for 2016. The figures and/or the language could be changed at several points in the process still to come.

We are grateful to Chairman Tim Brown for his support for this bill. He spoke to the committee about the seven years without a COLA, and the actuarial suppositions that are included with the INPRS estimates each year.

After Nancy testified on behalf of the bill, Chairman Brown asked Nancy if this was her last time to testify. He then thanked her for her service and the whole committee and audience members applauded.

To do right away:

1. Thank Representative Tim Brown, H41@in.gov for his support and recognition of Nancy.
2. Thank Representative Woody Burton, H58@in.gov for carrying the COLA bill and for his willingness to work on a compromise for the Defined Benefit issue.
3. Thank Representative David Niezgodski, H7@in.gov for his work on reaching a compromise and for his continued support for our issues.

Watch for news of HB 1481 passing the House.

Get ready to write your Senator in early March to URGE him or her to support the bill when it is heard in the Senate Committees.

Nancy and Tom

ISTEP & Accountability Call to Action

Colleagues,

By working together on this, we CAN and WILL make a difference for our children, our colleagues, our communities, and our state.

Step 1: Find your legislators at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/

Step 2: Email your legislators and tell them to suspend the A-F Accountability Model until the new test and accountability metrics are firmly established. This can be done through another Executive Order by Governor Pence or through SB 566 (https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/566) authored by Sen. Ryan Mishler and Sen. Luke Kenley while co-authored by Sen. Ed Charbonneau, Sen. Douglas Eckerty, Sen. Patricia Miller, Sen. Scott Schneider, Sen. Dennis Kruse, and Sen. Rodric Bray.

I was recently reminded of the wise words of Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Mayor Emanuel said "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." With that in mind, I believe the current state of the ISTEP+ examination, uncertainty over next year's assessment, and the undetermined direction of the future A-F metrics, we have an opportunity that we may not have thought we previously had.

In Indiana, this crisis provides a great opportunity for Governor Pence to work with Superintendent Ritz and the State Board to mend that relationship as they consider solutions to the testing issues and accountability. Continuing down this pathway will result in an increase in D and F schools from this year's testing with the more rigorous test. Further, 3-4 times as many schools will face state and federal sanctions and be burdened with a significant increase in paperwork and mandatory meetings to address these letter grades. Once a school is branded with a D or F, it takes at least a 2 year period to demonstrate improvement by earning a C or higher. None of these results will be favorable for our state or our economy.

Please act swiftly to complete step 2 while the conditions are optimal and we have a true opportunity to impact change that will greatly benefit our children.

A few recent media stories that may also provide some context include:

Indiana is a Mess http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/02/10/its-a-mess-in-indiana/

North Montgomery Superintendent, Colleen Moran, shared with me a link 1/19/15 from the District Administrator Daily Newsletter about Arizona considering the suspension of letter grades for 1-2 years due to a new more rigorous test. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2015/01/14/arizona-may-suspend-school-letter-grades/21758295/

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2015/02/12/istep-freezing-problems-return/23290657/

http://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/columnists/matthew-tully/2015/02/11/tully-gops-glenda-ritz-power-grab-making-things-worse/23247427/

Thank you in advance.

Jeff

Dr. Jeffrey K. Butts, Superintendent
M.S.D. of Wayne Township
Indianapolis, IN 46241

2015 Legislative Bulletin #4

LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN NUMBER FOUR

There isn’t a lot to report for this week except for one good thing that happened late last week:

The Appropriations Committee met to consider SB 492. This is the bill that had a clause making a Defined Contribution the default option for new hires for the state.
Senator Karen Tallian proposed an amendment that, among other items, dropped the DC clause. The amendment was accepted, and the clause is no longer part of the bill.
The bill passed the Senate yesterday and will now go to the House. We will watch to be sure no other amendments are added back in that would refer to a DC.

I have to give you the credit for the way this went. We were surprised at the ease in which they adopted Senator Tallian’s amendment, and we feel it may have been because they were hearing from all of you that we were opposed to the DC clause.
Please thank Senator Tallian: s4@iga.in.gov
And Senator Boots for allowing the amendment: s23@iga.in.gov
At any rate, if you wrote about SB 492. Thank you, and please keep up the good work.

What needs to happen now is a note to Representative Cherry to say we hope they will hear and pass his bill, HB 1493, in the Ways and Means Committee. This must happen within two weeks. A note to Chairman Brown of the Ways and Means Committee would also be appropriate.
HB 1493 is the hybrid bill that gives both a permanent increase and a one-time increase. We feel it has the best chance of becoming law, as its fiscal impact will be lower than the traditional COLA, but it still increases your monthly pension.

There is still a long way to go, but we are hoping to make the case for this bill. Representative Cherry: h53@iga.in.gov Representative Brown: h4@iga.in.gov

If any of your representatives are on the Ways and Means Committee, please write to them also. You should have the list of those names from Legislative Bulletin Two.

As always, we can’t do it without your support. THANK YOU FOR THE HELP!

Your legislative team