Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/654069
SPRING 2016 | ADVOCATE 19 Local Perspective ack in the playpen of my 40s, I used to look at women of my present age and think: "How do they stand it? Is there life after sixty?" I am 64 years old and the president of AEA-Retired. I love being this age. Senior, golden- aged, "chronologically gifted," as my gro- cery store would like to call me (I shudder at the phrase, though happily take their discount). Just plain "old" will do for me. Never before have I had such good friends as I have now, and so many. They're the re- sult of years of accumulation, cultivation, and yes, elimination. And there are many invitations. There is always a dinner, a luncheon, an evening of theater on my cal- endar. In the past year I have been invited on a rafting trip, to the theater in London, and to the beach in California. Finally, the anxiety of getting old is gone and I revel in my age. My mother, who is over 90 (I won't give away her age), revels in her solitude, as do I. She says it's a gift: a time to refuel, to acquire information and new skills from a variety of sources, and to cultivate her in- terior self, undisturbed. She has the warm sun on her back as she weeds her garden, and like me, has a calendar full of invita- tions from which she chooses activities to match her energy level. But what gives her and me the security and positive outlook? It is the financial independence that we earned throughout our careers in public education. My mother was a school nurse. I taught elementary school. I paid into my pension over the 32 years of my career – and accepted lower wages with the promise of a small pension for the rest of my life after retirement. Thanks to our ASRS pension that we paid into with every paycheck, we will not need to go to our children to help support us, or need public assistance. Did you know that every $1 paid to the 100,000 current recipients of ASRS pensions generates $5 of economic activity in Arizona? The ASRS pensioners are one of the major drivers of the Arizona economy. The pension that kept me in the class- room, and that keeps other great educators in public schools is currently being threat- ened. How so? ASU President Michael Crow and Governor Ducey are planning to propose legislation in next year's legislative session that would require all ASU new hires to have a 401K type Defined Contri- bution plan. If this occurs, then the other universities, the community colleges, and other ASRS groups will go the same way. This will mean that the contribution rate for all other current ASRS participants will go up. The 2017 legislative session dead- line gives us a year to organize in order to defeat this plan. Don't wait until you lose your retire- ment security – the one best benefit for educators in our state – and the one that positively impacts women most – to find out what a great benefit your ASRS pen- sion is. Other states have lost their Defined Benefit Retirement plan. In those states men and women who spent their careers in public education are working in grocery stores and other low wage jobs after retire- ment. Once they go through their Defined Contribution savings and investments – they are on their own. Not having the right pension plan means they must come up with other means of income. If it's up to many of our state legislators, future education retirees will have good reason to worry about their future – un- like my mother and me – their financial independence will not be secure. Governor Ducey, Dr. Michael Crow, and Board of Regents President Eileen Klein believe that the savings they find by removing the De- fined Benefit ASRS option will help them with their bottom line. So, what keeps you in the classroom? Of course, it's the kids, their parents, the emo- tionally moving successes you continually facilitate for your students. I ask you to consider one more thing. Think about the investment you have made with every paycheck. It is aggregated with every other ASRS member's contribution and safely invested. ASRS is one of the strongest pen- sion funds in the nation. With the benefit of stronger investment returns, lower fees and longevity risk pooling, Defined Benefit plans are able to provide these benefits at about half the cost that would be required in a Defined Contribution plan. We have built it and safe-guarded it through many years of good management and by adjust- ing the laws and parameters over the past few years in the state legislature to make it even stronger and healthier. It must not be torn down. If higher education employees are taken out of the system, contributions will go up, and eventually the unfunded liability would put the ASRS pension in jeopardy. I stayed in the classroom, not just because I adored my students and loved working with parents who added so much to my classroom, but also because of my guaranteed ASRS Defined Benefit pension plan. I worked many summer jobs while attending summer college courses to in- crease my efficacy in the classroom. Often the very skills that I earned in the class- room were those that were in high demand from those summer jobs with a variety of businesses. I was often offered hefty raises and even a "corner office with a window!" But, my ASRS Defined Benefit plan kept me in the classroom using my skills and talents to open the doors of opportunity for my students. There are so few benefits for teachers in today's political environment. Let's do all that we can to keep one of the most important. If you would like more information about this current threat to public educa- tion please contact me at jhorwin@mind- spring.com, call 602-320-3093, or go to www.azedretired.com (google AEA Retired) and I will arrange for someone to come to you to share a presentation about your pension and this threat. In only 15 minutes, this presentation will quickly inform you and others about the potential legislative change for new university employees. There Is Life After 60. And it's pretty darn great! By Julie Horwin AEA Retired President n