Norman — Several members of the Cleveland-McClain County Retired Educators group were among more than 400 of the Oklahoma Retired Educators Association who traveled to the state Capitol March 2 to lobby for legislators for fair and equal treatment on cost-of-living raises and improved funding of the teachers’ retirement system.
Carolyn Deatherage, Carolyn Seiter, Teresa Paine and Vera Willey attended the event. They observed sessions of the House of Representative and the Senate, visited with legislators and had lunch with several area legislators, including Rep. Wallace Collins and Sens. Don Berrington and Kenneth Corn.
“Retired educators need and deserve fair and equal COLA treatment now,” said OREA president Weldon Davis. “Legislation should be passed this session to provide it.”
In recent years, the state’s 46,000 retired educators have reveived cost of living increases only half the size of retirees of the state’s other pension system, according to an OREA release.
The teacher retirement system received funding from contributions from active employees, employer payroll tax contributions and dedicated state funding. In 2009, the legislature also appropriated a little more than $20 million in supplemental funding, the release said.
“TRS is projecting a decline of approximately $50 million in state funds this year due to reduced tax collections caused by the economic recession and income tax cuts in recent years,” Davis said.
The OREA is the only organization that exists solely to represent the intrests of retired public school personnel. It has local affiliate units and members in all counties on the state, including the Cleveland-McClain County group.
