Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Teachers need your help

While I applaud Governor Schwarzenegger’s initiative to entice retiring scientists and engineers into teaching, Congress still has not removed the penalties educators face upon retirement. Educators who have paid into Social Security via “private sector” employment do not receive benefits they have earned. They face penalties via the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which are laws at this time.

Educators who either entered the teaching profession as a “second career” – just as the Governor is proposing now – or who worked a second job do not receive their deserved Social Security benefits. How can you argue that it’s fair for anyone to pay at least the required 40 units into the Social Security system yet not receive benefits to which they are entitled?

The Social Security Fairness Act of 2007, which includes S 206 (California’s Senator Dianne Feinstein) and HR 82 (by California Representatives Berman and McKeon), repeals these penalties. Please write or call your US Senators and Representatives asking them to vote for the Social Security Fairness Act of 2007. Hopefully, we’ll remember 2007 as the year Congress righted this wrong.

Lucile Reeder

Member,

California Retired Teachers Association

 

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