Active and Retired Public School Employees and Those Who Support Us--UNITE IN THE PRIMARIES!

     Active and retired public school employees across Texas, along with our former students, our family members, and our friends, have been asking for a list of TEACHER-FRIENDLY state candidates (governor, lt. governor, senators, and state representatives), those who did NOT support robbing us of affordable healthcare during the 2017 Legislative Session while they kept THEIR very-affordable healthcare.
     Because the Texas Legislature has appropriated DOUBLE the funding for THEIR OWN and other state employees' in the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) healthcare--despite the fact that it has HALF the number of members that the Texas Retirement System of Texas (TRS) has--as a retired member of ERS, the state pays 100 PERCENT of their premium and 50 PERCENT of their spouse's premium for healthcare.  Meanwhile, TRS members' costs have skyrocketed, causing many to go off critical medications and refusing to go to much-needed doctors' appointments.  While raising the premium for spouses to a staggering amount, they also raised our healthcare insurance deductible from $400 to $1500, and not one penny is paid until we reach that deductible.  Not one penny.

     WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE EDUCATOR
      IS GOOD FOR THE LEGISLATOR!

     The Texas Federation of Teachers has put out this list of ENDORSED candidates who SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION EMPLOYEES---teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, counselors, custodians, administrators, librarians, secretaries, classroom aides, maintenance workers, social workers--the people who dedicated our entire careers to educating and serving Texas children!

     Have you seen which candidates for lieutenant governor got the endorsement of the Houston Chronicle??  That's right!  Scott Milder (Republican primary) and Mike Collier (Democratic primary)!!
     And for those who missed the November, 2017, story "A Punishing Decade for School Funding" by Michael Leachman, Kathleen Masterson, and Eric Figueroa from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it's a must-read!!!

     PLEASE SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!

PRIMARIES BEGIN 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20!!!

This is a NON-PARTISAN effort to get rid of legislators who want far better for themselves than for public education employees whose pensions and healthcare THEY control!

(To see the list of public-education-friendly/unfriendly/neutral candidates compiled by Texans for Public Education (T4PE) with the rationale for the ratings, go to texansforpubliceducation.com and click on "Our Ratings.")

We are
#blowingthewhistle

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Chris Ardis retired in May of 2013 following a 29-year teaching career. She now helps companies with business communications and social media and works as a sales coordinator for Tony Roma's and Macaroni Grill. Chris can be reached at cardis1022@aol.com. (Photo by Sarina Manahan, Chris' former student.)