September Newsletter        

Week of: October 2, 2017/Volume #2

Upcoming Events

October 4

California Casualty/BCEA Visit @ Conner MS

October 5

Deadline for Nominations to KEA Delegate Assembly – 4:00 PM

October 11

California Casualty/BCEA Visit @ Goodridge ES

October 12

Deadline for Bio’s for KEA Delegate Assembly Elections

Board of Education Meeting @ Ralph Rush – 7:30 PM

October 13 and 16

Fall Break

October 15

Self-Reflection and PGP due

October 17

Executive Council Meeting – 4:15 PM

Ballyshannon Redistricting Public Forum @ Ralph Rush – 6:30 PM

October 23

California Casualty/BCEA Visit @ Conner HS

October 24

Pension Rally – 6:00 PM @ Dixie Heights High School

BCEA

Boone County Education Association

Mary M. Wilson, President

75 Cavalier Boulevard, Suite 324, Florence, KY  41042

W: www.mybcea.org T: (513)300-2232

Dear Members,

By now, your year has gotten successfully underway.  Please let me know how BCEA can help you through the year.  No matter how big or small the issue is, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss. 

BCEA is so proud to announce that in total, 27,584 cans of ravioli, soup, fruit and applesauce cups were collected and we donated $4,114 in cash to Go Pantry!  It is amazing to see how students, faculty, families, and district offices came together to support this amazing organization and their efforts to make sure children have the meals they need.  Congratulations!

BCEA is partnering with the Kenton County Education Association, Campbell County Education Association, and other smaller local associations, to bring together Legislators, KEA Representatives, teachers, police, and firemen together for a Pension Rally.  We are in the very early stages of planning this Town Hall event.  The location has been secured, along with a time and date.  Please save the evening on your calendars to attend.  More information will be coming soon.

Your President,

Mary M. Wilson

What is an Inviolable Contract?

Did you know that Kentucky has what is called an Inviolable Contract?  An inviolable contract is a state law [KRS 61.692] that prohibits state employees’ retirement benefits from being reduced, altered, amended or repealed?  For TRS participants, there are five current benefits not included in the inviolable contract:

• Retirement allowances calculated on a average of members’ 3 highest salaries if the member is at least 55 years of age and has at least 27 years of service. [KRS 161.220(9)]

• Post-retirement re-employment provisions. [KRS 161.605 ((1) – (8))]

• Retirement benefits for members providing part-time or substitute teaching services. [KRS 161.612]

• Application of 3.0% Retirement factor for qualified years of service in excess of 30 [KRS 161.620 (1)]

• Retired teachers’ health insurance: only access to group coverage is guaranteed, not payment of coverage. [KRS 161.675]

• Sick leave payments used for retirement calculation purposes. [KRS 161.155 (10)]

SPECIAL PENSION UPDATE:

KEA convened a meeting today with other education stakeholder groups to continue our discussion and collaboration around the potential special session to address our pension funding crisis.  Rumors continue to fly, but there is still NO BILL proposed as of today.

We’re all hearing from legislators that a “framework” of a bill may be presented to the public next week. We will be awaiting such a “framework” and as soon as we see what it contains we will let members know. Please remember that a “framework” is not a bill. Until a formal bill is drafted and a special session is called nothing is official.

We expect our leaders in Frankfort to provide details of any reform proposal in the form of a bill so we can carefully analyze to assure we understand its impact on our members.  KEA will not debate or respond to concepts until we see a bill draft and know the impact any proposal will have on you!

THANK YOU for all of the great work you are currently doing to engage our members to advocate for themselves on this critical issue!  The town halls, retirement education workshops, rallies, and legislative contacts ARE making an impact. We need to continue to hold our legislators accountable for protecting the promise of a defined benefit pension for all educators and public employees (retired, current, and future).  Please keep it up, we’re making a difference!

Please know that KEA is continuing to work with others, in Frankfort and beyond, to protect our pensions.

YOU are KEA! We must be unified in our messages to legislators and need every single person to contact their representatives NOW!

We have spent the month of September educating ourselves and each other about pensions.  Please join me over the next month by reaching out to others in our communities to join our cause. We need to fight for future generations of students and public servants so that our local economies continue to thrive and provide the best education for the youth of the Commonwealth.

Below are some talking points that you can use when talking to your legislators about potential changes to our systems.

There are 3 major retirement systems and 8 individual systems in those three categories. Due to the uniqueness of these systems they should be individually considered.  One bill to address all systems will not work.

Points for Teachers:

• Regarding new teachers moving into Social Security (SS) with a defined contribution (DC) plan similar to 401(k)s:

  • SS and DC contributions are more expensive than the current TRS plan, according to the PFM report itself (at page 16 of that report).

  • The SS system is woefully underfunded, and the federal government will very likely have to increase the employer and employee SS taxes in the next decade to shore up that system. Therefore, moving teachers into SS brings more risk to KY taxpayers who will face state and/or local tax increases when SS costs go up.

  • SS would provide a lesser benefit for retired teachers compared to TRS, according to the PFM report.

  • All SS changes are controlled by federal government, and therefore the state loses control over benefits and costs. This would also increase risk for KY taxpayers.

  • Moving into SS is a permanent decision; once our teachers go in, they can never get out even if the costs are increased substantially by Congress in the future. A permanent decision of such substantial impact on the Commonwealth requires more time, careful study and consideration. We all realize some changes are necessary, but this is one proposal that needs more public examination.

  • New teachers, if moved into Social Security will not be eligible to draw that benefit until a much later age which could leave many educators working over 40 years to be eligible for their combined benefit.

• Legislators and the public must realize that the cost of moving teachers to SS to local schools would dramatically increase the cost of education at the local level. Reducing the overall investment in public education is not the answer to the pension problem, and certainly won’t help us create new jobs. Companies that are afraid of our pension liabilities won’t like a defunded education system either.  To any taxpayer, a tax bill from the state or a school board is still a tax bill!

• When folks discuss teachers and SS, they often bring up the “Government Pension Offset” and “Windfall Elimination Provision” (GPO/WEP). Each of these issues, which reduce the SS that a teacher may receive for other jobs they had or in relation to their spouse’s benefits, are matters of federal law. The Kentucky General Assembly cannot amend or repeal these federal laws, and pension reform enacted here will not directly change the impact these federal laws have on current employees or retirees.

Points for classified staff:

• Classified school employees pay into both CERS and SS.

• We agree that over the years, there have been valid concerns with the transparency of management and investment at the KY Retirement Systems (KRS), which currently administers the CERS system for our classified staff.

• One major concern is most of the assets being invested by the KRS as a whole are CERS funds paid in by employees and employers (local school boards), the CERS stakeholders do not have, and never have had, a proportional voice on the KRS board of trustees and its investment committee.

• KEA supports the separation of the CERS fund from the KRS governance structure (as last session’s Senate Bill 226 would have done) would bring more local control to these local pensions, along with greater transparency.

• KEA agrees that any sudden increases in CERS contributions (as will occur next fiscal year) will be detrimental to local schools and should be phased in over several years to prevent a financial crisis for school districts that could lead to layoffs of the very employees we are trying to attract and retain.

As KEA members we must continue to advocate for reform that protects our students and educators. This includes the implementation of new dedicated revenues streams that attract the best and brightest to work with the students of the Commonwealth.

We can, and we must, get our financial house in order without sacrificing our students’ futures.

Keep up the fight!

Stephanie and Eddie

2018 KEA Delegate Assembly Open Nominations

Boone County Education Association announces NOMINATIONS for:

Delegates to the 2018 KEA Delegate Assembly - April 4-6, 2018 in Louisville, KY

The 2018 KEA Delegate Assembly is quickly approaching.  In order to ensure that Boone County teachers are adequately represented, we need the help of BCEA members.  Please nominate any BCEA member or yourself by Thursday, October 5, 2017. The Association is currently entitled to 20 KEA Delegates.  BCEA will pay for the hotel, travel, and meal costs of KEA Delegates with approval of the budget committee.  This district will provide a sub for 2 days (Thursday and Friday) to attend this conference.  This is a great way to get involved and see how your local and state associations are advocating on your behalf!  This annual meeting is where we elect state officers and make new policies and procedures for our organization.                                                                                     

 I encourage new leaders to step forward and take a risk on becoming involved!

Any BCEA member may nominate yourself or another member.

Nominations will close at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 5 , 2017

2017-2018 BCEA FALL ELECTION TIMELINE:

September 25th           Nominations open Email Louanna.Wyatt@boone.kyschools.us   (please CC yourself to have a copy)

October 5th                  Nominations close at 4:00 p.m.                                                                                                                                              

October 12th                50 word maximum (if you exceed, only the 1st 50 words will be viewed) bio due to Louanna.Wyatt@boone.kyschools.us

October 23rd - 27th     Electronic voting will occur.  More information to follow.

November 1st              Elected Delegates Notified- Results

Upcoming Trainings

Social Media Links

Be sure to visit our website and follow us on Social Media for up-to-date information:

  www.mybcea.org

  Twitter:

  @nkybcea

  Instagram:

  nkybcea

  Facebook:

  Coming Soon!

“SAVE THE DATES” NKEA/KEA Teacher Retirement Issues Presentations

Session #2 – Wednesday, November 1st – GPO/WEP – Social Security Offsets for Kentucky Educators by KEA Vice President Eddie Campbell

Session #3 – Wednesday, March 14th – TRS of Kentucky Overview and Individual Consultations by TRS Retirement Counselors

All of the meetings will be at Turkeyfoot Middle School, 3230 Turkeyfoot Road, Edgewood, KY 41047

Registration Deadlines:

Session #2 – Noon, October 25 (Link to come soon)

Session #3 – Noon, January 8                                          

Time Frames for all three sessions: On-site sign-in and light meal (5-5:30) Program (5:30-7:30)

Registration is limited to the first 100 people to register for each session.  You do not have to be a KEA member to attend.  There is no fee.  Although everyone is invited to attend, this information applies to certified personnel only.  Watch for details in upcoming communications.