By Lloyd Gillespie
Nov. 1-7 will be the 11th annual California Retired Teachers Week. As California and Lake County retired educators continue to be involved in their community and volunteer their services in the classrooms, there is a misperception in regard to public pensions.
As a retired teacher, the “educator” in me feels the need to set the record straight on a few key points regarding this misperception. Many people seem to think that teachers receive their pensions as a free benefit, when in fact, they paid into their own retirement accounts.
Teachers were and are required to pay into CalSTRS (teachers pension fund) 8 percent of their monthly salary, which is higher than workers pay for Social Security. In general, teachers are not eligible for Social Security benefits, so their CalSTRS pension is their only guaranteed income in retirement. Those who do receive Social Security benefits have earned them by working additional jobs to support the needs of their families. However, those benefits are reduced or eliminated by onerous and unfair penalties called Windfall Elimination Provision, initiated by our government.
The fewer than 26 percent of our retirees who receive health benefits get them not from the state but from the school district they bargained with for them. Most retired teachers continue to use their former school district”s health plans, but must pay for them.
The average retired teacher paid into his/her retirement for 26 or more years and receives only $2,700 per month; many receive less than this. We did not enter this profession to get rich. We made contributions in good faith which CalSTRS invested wisely.
We earned and were promised a pension from STRA and Social Security and should be able to depend on this modest retirement income.
Lloyd Gillespie
Kelseyville
