ATPE officers make the rounds in D.C.
Things were certainly heated in Washington, D.C. last week—June 16–19—as ATPE State President Ginger Franks, Vice President Richard Wiggins, Executive Director Gary G. Godsey and Governmental Relations...
View ArticleATPE testifies at House hearing on public school employee health insurance
On Thursday, July 10, the House Committees on Pensions and Appropriations held a joint hearing to discuss retiree and active employee health insurance. TRS-ActiveCare is the program that covers...
View ArticleTexas Congressman files new bill, with ATPE support, to help educators with...
Last week, ATPE lobbyists held several meetings with members of the Texas Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., to discuss proposed changes to Social Security laws, specifically, the...
View ArticleTRS releases new information on healthcare costs and pension fund status
The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) Board of Trustees met last week in Austin. There is an important lesson to be learned from information released during the meeting: Proper management and regular...
View ArticleLegislative Update: TX Congressman pursues Social Security fix, NCLB talks...
Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) has re-filed his “Equal Treatment for Public Servants Act” this week. H.R. 711 is a bill to address the controversial Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) in federal law...
View ArticleHouse budget leader: Retirees’ healthcare will be fully funded
House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Otto (R-Dayton) announced this morning that the House budget will contain full funding for the program that provides health insurance to retired public...
View ArticleMore legislators express support for funding retired educators’ healthcare
As we reported yesterday, Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, announced this week that the House budget will contain full funding for TRS-Care, the health...
View ArticleLegislative Update: Budget approval and more on the final countdown
We’re in the home stretch of the 84th legislative session. Here’s the latest on education-related bills that are still on the move: State budget and TRS funding Tax cuts and spending restrictions...
View ArticlePress release: ATPE weighs in on completion of 84th legislative session
Today, ATPE Executive Director Gary Godsey issued the following remarks to the media about the end of the 84th regular legislative session: “For the education community, legislative sessions in...
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SBEC and TRS boards meet, ATPE heads to D.C.
Today, June 12, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) is meeting in Austin. ATPE Lobbyist Kate Kuhlmann is attending the meeting and has provided this write-up about the business being...
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In Washington, ATPE advocates for ESEA and Social Security relief
A group of ATPE state officers and staff are in Washington, D.C. this week for meetings to discuss education policy matters at the national level. ATPE’s Executive Director Gary Godsey, Governmental...
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Your benefits: Social Security update
Texas public school employees are among a unique group of public servants subject to a set of provisions in federal law very few people ever come in contact with, and even fewer actually know much...
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Teach the Vote’s Week in Review: Sept. 18, 2015
Happy Friday! Here’s a review of some education stories that made the news this week. Read about ATPE’s lobbying efforts on Social Security. The Texas Tribune reports that some experts anticipate a...
View ArticleTRS Board meeting summary
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) Board of Trustees met September 24-25, 2015, to discuss several investment and policy issues related to laws passed by the Texas legislature earlier this...
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Reminder for TRS Town Hall tomorrow, Oct. 22
The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) is conducting an interactive town hall meeting on Thursday, Oct. 22, beginning at 8:30 a.m. to discuss healthcare issues, including TRS-Care and TRS-Activecare. The...
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Educator healthcare: ATPE testifies before TRS board
The healthcare plan available to public education employees has an affordability problem. Brian Guthrie, Executive Director of the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) referenced this issue in comments to...
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Teach the Vote’s Week in Review: Oct. 23, 2015
From elections to TRS, here are the Texas education stories you may have missed this week: TEA releases FIRST ratings for districts and charters and reports on implementation of House Bill 5 (2013)...
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Texas House committees receive interim charges
Yesterday, Texas House Speaker Rep. Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) released his list of interim charges for House committees to study before the 2017 legislative session. The education-related charges...
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Teach the Vote’s Week in Review: Nov. 6, 2015
In this week’s wrap-up of education stories making the news in Texas, we showcase the following: In Texas general election, voters overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments on property taxes,...
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The state of the TRS pension trust fund and healthcare programs
Since the dawn of time, of all of the questions that arise from students in classrooms, one question has been more pervasive in mathematics classes than any other: “Why do I need to learn this if I am...
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