May, 2008
Volume 16, Issue 9
MCALLEN AFT NEWS
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
WHO WANTS TO REDUCE YOUR TRS ACCOUNT???
Governor Perry’s new pet project is to change your Teacher Retirement account into a 401K—you put money in and the state stops. The Governor needs money for roads, bridges, and prisons.
The Texas Senate (Senate State Affairs Committee, under the chaired by Sen. Robert Duncan of Lubbock) must by closely watched, because his committee has been the launching pad since 2003 for many an adverse change in the retirement benefits of school employees.
Here is that item:
“Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of phasing in a defined-contribution pension for future employees versus the existing defined-benefit pension plan.”
The idea of killing off defined-pensions has been on the burner for years. Switching from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution pension plan would serve the purpose of limiting the state’s potential financial obligation to retired school and higher-ed and state-agency employees. The “savings” for the state would come at the cost of financial insecurity for retired public servants, whose pension would no longer be guaranteed but would instead depend on the happenstance of how well their individual investments perform. As we have seen in recent market downturns, that can be a very risky retirement strategy, especially for those, like Texas school employees, who are predominantly are excluded from Social Security. The defined TRS pension benefit (2.3% of final average pay for each year of credited TRS service) is all you have—the loop hole for SS is closed.
END OF SCHOOL FIESTA
Members present at the McAllen AFT End of School Fiesta elected officers as follows: Ruth Skow, President; Joe Guerra, VP; Juventino Gonzalez, Treasurer; Lydia Garcia, Secretary; Victor Partida, At Large; Rey Hernandez, At Large.
The food was sooooo, so good at the Country Omelette; the Folkloric dancers ranged in age from 6-14; and the Loteria prizes were very good. The four (4) $25 gas cards were very popular.
WORK FORCE
A Texas House select committee on funding for public schools and higher education met in San Antonio yesterday for a hearing on workforce readiness and education finance.
As you might expect, business-community witnesses testified to the need for an educated workforce, and local school and college officials testified to the need for adequate resources to get the job done.
Of greatest interest was a line of questioning pursued by Rep. Scott Hochberg, Democrat of Houston, who pressed business witnesses to be specific about the number of college graduates their industries actually will require in future years.
Hochberg questioned the appropriateness of a one-size-fits-all expectation that every student will benefit from taking exactly the same college-preparatory curriculum. Access for every student to that curriculum is a good thing, he suggested, but more than one sequence of four math courses, for example, could meet the goal of post-secondary workforce or college readiness.
At a minimum, questions and comments like these serve as a corrective for the unthinking assumption that only a conventional college education counts as a successful outcome for the graduates of Texas high schools.
SBOE
Coincidentally, a career and technical education review panel will be making recommendations to the State Board of Education next week on changes in the state's career and technical education curriculum. The new curriculum standards are expected to guide textbook revisions in the next few years.
Also coming up next week at SBOE is the next round of changes in the state's English/reading curriculum standards.
The existing standards are badly in need of an overhaul, but the standard-setting process has been fraught with controversy, as English teachers and SBOE members have tussled over questions large and small about the contents of the new standards.
Teachers' group has been hard at work developing proposed revisions of the latest version of new standards posted for public comment by the SBOE, and matters will come to a head in a public hearing on May 21, with final Board action slated for May 22.
TEACHERS OF THE YEAR
The McAllen school district honored its campus teachers of the year and named its District Teachers of the Year at a luncheon on May 8 at the McAllen Convention Center.
The District Elementary Teacher of the Year is Dora Newell of Thigpen-Zavala Elementary.
The District Secondary Teacher of the Year is Reynaldo Jope of Rowe High School.
The other elementary campus Teachers of the Year are Florina Wohlwend, Alvarez Elementary; Lorena Guerrero, Bonham; Norma Gonzalez, Castaneda; Carmen Bazan, Crockett; Celina Maya, Escandon; Roxanna Avila, Fields; Sandy Egger, Garza; Maria Teresa Guerrero, Gonzalez; Juan Roberto Montes, Houston; Sonia Martinez, Jackson; Michelle Rodriguez, McAuliffe; Elena Arrendondo, Milam; Maria Elena Martinez; Navarro; Monica Ditto, Perez; Laurie Willis, Rayburn; Minerva Flores, Roosevelt; Ileana Ramos, Sanchez; Raquel Zapata, Seguin; and Amy Murguia, Wilson.
The Middle School Teachers of the Year are as follows: Dalia Rodriguez, Brown Middle School; Sylvia Araguz, Cathey; Joanna Wolfe, De Leon; Vanessa Garza, Lincoln; Carmen Ramos, Morris; Kathy Johnson, Travis.
The High School Teachers of the Year are as follows: Sal Flores, McAllen High; Linda Rosales, Memorial High; Sandra Semper, Lamar Academy; and Karen Teverovsky, Instruction and Guidance Center.