West Grayson Retired School Personnel Association (WGRSPA) members met Tuesday, March 4, at Las Haciendas Restaurant in Whitesboro for their monthly meeting with 27 members and two guests in attendance.
Sharon Lively led members in the singing of “Texas Our Texas” in remembrance of Texas Independence Day.
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, guest Jake Dickerson, Associate Pastor and Worship Director of First United Methodist Church Whitesboro, entertained members and guests with a rendition of “Danny Boy,” which he sang and played on guitar. He then invited everyone to join him in singing “Be Thou My Vision,” both noted Irish songs.
Member Tom Demetrion along with President Sue Barker shared information about Irish history. Barker noted St. Patrick’s use of the shamrock to teach children about the Trinity and introduced to everyone the children’s book Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland. Barker had made table favors shaped like the shamrock using pretzels and molded green chocolate shamrocks.
Treasurer Wanda Dutton reminded members that March starts membership renewal for Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) members and that members can have $2.92 dues deducted each month from their annuity checks or pay $35 yearly to state. WGRSPA dues are $10 yearly.
Several WGRSPA members will be traveling to Austin for the TRTA Lobby Day on March 26 to visit with legislators about TRTA priorities. Public education employees planning on retiring this year or in the near future are invited to attend an informational Retirement Seminar presented by WGRSPA on Thursday March 20, at Wesley Hall United Methodist Church. Cladene Belcher, financial advisor, will provide information regarding retirement options, and a representative of AMBA, a benefits corporation partnered with TRTA, will be there to speak about benefits offered by his company available to members.
Carol Golden reported a Spring Field Trip is scheduled for Saturday April 5 to St. Jo, Texas. Members will visit their historic town square, have lunch and also stop in Muenster to shop at some of the German businesses.
T. R. Fletcher reported on recent legislative work by the TRTA, along with other organizations across the nation, that advocated tirelessly this past Congressional session to get the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) laws repealed. These laws in effect for over 42 years prevented public employees in 17 states throughout the U.S. from receiving earned Social Security benefits or spousal benefits.
The advocacy done by TRTA and its lobby group worked for several decades to get this repeal accomplished for retirees of public school personnel, firefighters, police officers and other public employees that fell under these restrictions.
TRTA continues to work within the state of Texas on state priorities during the 89th Texas Legislature to maintain a solvent TRS pension fund by fully funding the statutory contribution rates and using state revenues to help reduce the unfunded liability, to provide a benefit enhancement to help offset the negative impact of inflation, and to maintain and protect TRS-Care by fully funding the current statutory contribution rates.
Not only have retirees been denied these federal Social Security benefits, the benefits received through TRS have failed to keep up with inflation, leaving many retirees living below the poverty level. Membership in TRTA is vital to all public school employees in Texas as it keeps members informed on federal issues and those within the state that affect them as well as our active public school employees. WGRSPA encourages any public school employee to join TRTA to keep abreast of these newsworthy events.
The next meeting of WGRSPA will be May 6, and will be a memorial meeting honoring those members lost this past year. Any public education retirees or anyone interested in public education is invited to join the members of WGRSPA as they work to make improvements in the lives of these public service employees.
Membership in TRTA works for the retiree as the repeal of WEP/GPO demonstrates. Thousands of retirees as well as spouses who were denied benefits under these unfair laws are currently receiving a year’s worth of denied benefits and will start receiving the full monthly amount of the social security they have earned as well.
Join WGRSPA and stay informed about public education retirees’ work. Meetings are the first Tuesday of the month September-May (with the exception of January) beginning at 11:30 a.m. at Las Haciendas Restaurant in Whitesboro.
