Cortese’s Bill to Provide Relief to California’s Oldest Educators Advances
Senator Cortese’s (D-Silicon Valley) bill, SB 868, to ensure equity and stability for California’s oldest educators passed the California Senate Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement Committee on April 4th.
SB 868 would equitably distribute excess funds within CalSTRS’ Supplemental Benefit Maintenance Account - a special account in CalSTRS that protects retirees from inflation and holds a projected excess of $11.9 billion in funds -
to California’s oldest retired teachers that are most in need.
The hearing, that can be viewed at this link, included personal testimony from many retired teachers who spoke to the need for increased inflation protection.
“Our retired teachers, overwhelmingly women, have been disproportionately impacted by tremendous financial hardships including inflation erosion, increased health care expenses, and widening holes in Medicare coverage,” said Senator Cortese. “Our educators, those who gave their life to developing our next generation and equipping students with the skills they need to succeed, deserve respect and security in their retirement, and they deserve to be treated fairly.”
“As I grow older, I have seen California change. My community is changing, my state is changing, the world is changing,” said Pat Boyd, a retired Kindergarten and First Grade Teacher in the Rio Linda School District. “As a retired teacher, I certainly didn’t enter this profession to become wealthy, but the fact that I have a little certainty of purchasing power through the CalSTRS Supplemental Benefit Maintenance Account gives me a sense of security that I will be protected from inflation, which is taking more and more of my income.”
Ed Foglia, a retired middle school teacher who began his teaching career in 1957 in the Cambrian Elementary School District said the following: “By passing SB 868 you will be helping 64,000 retirees who in some cases get more remunerations from SBMA than from their basic pension. Over eighty percent are women and many had less than thirty years of service. The pension they have earned is no longer enough to care for their basic needs.”
He added, “Like many of my colleagues I became a teacher because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to inspire our students to do their best and thrive to succeed. Teachers encourage students through tough times in their life, they coach, and they inspire, they open doors, and they motivate. The job of a teacher goes far beyond the classroom, and after serving our students and communities, teachers should be able to retire with dignity.”
SB 868, is sponsored by the California Teachers Association (CTA), the California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA), the Association of California Administrators, (ACSA), Delta Kappa Gamma California, and the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and has support from the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), and more.
Also in yesterday’s hearing, Cortese’s bill SB 874 advanced, a bill that would provide classified employees of merit K-12 and California Community College districts the same clarity that is provided to classified employees in non-merit districts regarding their right to return to their prior classification if they are promoted and fail to complete probation for their new position. The absence of promotional probation procedures in the education code allows for the potential termination of permanent employees in merit districts without cause. As a result, without the clarity provided in the non-merit statutes, qualified employees in merit districts may not seek promotions out of fear of losing their job.
SB 874 will remedy this by clarifying that the promotional probationary period for employees in merit districts will not cost them their livelihoods, thus encouraging them to seek promotions.
SB 874 is sponsored by the California School Employees Association (CSEA) with support from the California Labor Federation and the California State Council of Service Employees International Union (SEIU California)
For more information, contact Tara Sreekrishnan, Office of Senator Dave Cortese at 408 480 7833 or tara.sreekrishnan@sen.ca.gov.