IT’S TIME, PUBLIC EDUCATION EMPLOYEES and RETIREES

            There is so much to share with you in this blog post.  The 2018 General Election is just around the corner (November 6), and this is a critical election for public education employees and retirees.  Two months after this election, January 8, 2019, the 86^th Legislature will convene.  “Critical” doesn’t even begin to describe what this session means for all of us.

            So let’s get started on what we all need to know.  PLEASE NOTE that wherever you see blue words in the paragraphs below that are underlined, there is a LINK to the website/video/article I am discussing.  Click on them!

1.  According to the TRS website, there are currently 1.5 MILLION TRS members.  Can you all imagine the force we would be if even half of us were to get engaged?  What about one million?  (We can dream, can’t we?)  Heck, let’s shoot for all 1.5 MILLION members!  Each of us plays a role in making this happen.

2.  If you haven’t studied the Texans for Public Education ratings of our governor, lieutenant governor, senators, representatives, and State Board of Education members, start NOW!  We need to 1) keep/elect the “friendly” ones, 2) block vote against those rated “unfriendly,” and 3) elect “neutral” candidates if their opponent is “unfriendly” or block vote against them if their opponents are “unfriendly.”  (To see the ratings, scroll down on the T4PE home page—link above--until you see “Our Ratings.”  They did extensive research on each candidate and had members vote on the ratings, as well.)  SHARE!  SHARE!  SHARE!  November 6 will be here before you know it.

3.  As those of us in public education know, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has played a significant role in the decline of our benefits.  Last weekend, I had the opportunity to join an active McAllen ISD teacher and a McAllen ISD high school senior for an interview with his opponent, Mike Collier. That interview is an hour long, but I URGE you to listen to it in its entirety. He explains the predicament we are in, how he can turn it around, what property taxes have to do with it, and much more.  Once you have listened to it, please share with other voters!  Remember our goal—1.5 MILLION TRS MEMBERS…AND more!

4.  I cannot express enough how strongly I feel that every public school superintendent and every public school board trustee should be in this fight with us.  They are supposed to lead us, protect us, and support us.  Therefore, I was thrilled to hear about the courage and the conviction Dr. Kent P. Scribner, superintendent of Fort Worth ISD, showed by inviting Pastor Charles Johnson, founder of Pastors for Texas Children, to speak at the district's convocation.  (Listen from 44:54 to 1:10:30.)  This proves we are not alone!  Now we ALL need to get OUR superintendents, OUR board trustees, OUR former students and their families, OUR families, and OUR communities to stand with us!

5.  Here are more of the endless stories of the healthcare nightmare active and retired public education employees are living (I removed their last names):

 
         (Ernestina taught 18 years in Houston and then moved
                                                                     to the RGV, where she completed her career.  She is
                                                                     under 65.)

 (Faith has been teaching for 20 years; 

                            employees in her district are covered under TRS ActiveCare. )                                                

6.  A fellow TRS member posted on FB this week about something Gov. Greg Abbott said.  It happened yesterday during a roundtable discussion in Comal ISD, where the governor was joined by Sen. Donna Campbell, State Rep. Kyle Biedermann, and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath. During that discussion, Gov. Abbott had the audacity to say, “We want to structure the compensation plan that would be the very best educators on the pathway to earning a six-figure salary.”  I would be the first one in line to thank the governor…if I bought it.  But this is the same elected official who allowed this nightmare to happen to us.  It has happened under HIS watch!  And while we have shouted from the rooftops for the past EIGHT MONTHS about our healthcare nightmare, he has not so much as ACKNOWLEDGED our cries for help!  Calls, posts, emails—he has addressed none of them.  Story after story after story has been posted, yet he has remained silent.

            We have just a little over two months, My Colleagues.  It’s time.  We are 1.5-MILLION-MEMBERS STRONG—and that doesn’t include our family members, friends, former students and their families, superintendents, board trustees, and communities.  IT’S TIME!

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 Linda Blackwell, McAllen)