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HELP A TEACHER IN NEED
The Henry Barnard Memorial Fund was established to help needy teachers who have served but are no longer active in the teaching profession. Click here to find out how you can help.

State residents should be "cooperative but careful" about the information they give to U.S. Census workers, the Connecticut Better Business Bureau warned last week.

Some people are posing as census takers to obtain unwarranted personal information, the bureau said in a May 19 warning." Legitimate" census takers will have a badge, hand-held device, canvas bag and a confidentiality notice with them, the bureau said. They will "never ask for personal financial or Social Security information," according the bureau.

They will also not make contact by e-mail.

"Scammers know citizens are required by law to respond to the U.S. Census Bureau and give out some personal information, but that does not include detailed personal financial information," said President Paulette Scarpetti of the Connecticut bureau.

More information on the census is available at www.census.gov. Consumers also may find more information on avoiding identity theft and fraud at www.bbb.org.

We will be posting updated information on this site as it becomes available.

NEA is currently working to remedy an unintended consequence of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that could cause financial hardship for retirees. Background on this issue is provided below. While NEA pushes for a legislative fix, we urge all retirees to contact their financial advisors immediately and adjust their withholding. We ask that you send this information out to your retired members as soon as possible.

Background: The Internal Revenue Service has issued new tax withholding tables to reflect the Making Work Pay credit on earned income that was contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While pension benefits are not considered earned income and NOT subject to the Making Work Pay credit, IRS nevertheless instructed the payers of retirement benefits to use the new federal withholding tables. Unfortunately, this likely will result in under-withholding on pension income, and retirees, most of whom are on a fixed income, may find themselves unexpectedly owing taxes at the end of the year.

If the IRS does not modify its position on this matter, benefit payers, acting on the new IRS directive, will begin withholding using tax tables that are known to be inappropriate for most retirees. While pension payers have indicated they will do everything possible to notify retirees of the reason for the change in the net amount of their benefit payment and the potential for under-withholding, the only way benefit recipients can change the withholding amounts is to instruct their pension systems to increase the amount of their withholding. Furthermore, at the close of 2010, they will have to readjust their withholding to reflect the fact that the tables for 2011 will no longer incorporate the Making Work Pay credit.

NEA Advocacy: NEA believes that the IRS should allow the use of the old tables for income that is not eligible for the Making Work Pay Credit. We are actively involved with AFSCME, the National Council on Teacher Retirement, National Association of State Retirement Administrators, and AARP urging the IRS to use the old federal withholding tables. In addition, NEA and its coalition allies are actively lobbying Congress and the Administration to take action averting potential problems with the "Making Work Pay Credit" and retiree pension recipients.

ACTION NEEDED: NOTIFY RETIRED MEMBERS THAT THEY SHOULD CONTACT THEIR FINANCIAL ADVISORS IMMEDIATELY TO ADJUST THEIR WITHHOLDING. SUCH ADJUSTMENT IS CRITICAL TO ENSURE THAT THEY WILL NOT OWE UNEXPECTED TAXES AT THE END OF THE YEAR.

We will keep you informed regarding our efforts to change the IRS policy.

NEA Member Benefits has re-designed its website and it was showcased to our members at the Middlesex County Retired Meeting just recently. Mike Reilly, NEA Member Benefits Regional Representative, made the presentation pointing out the many benefits available to retirees and active members. You should really check out the new NEA Member Benefits website and add its new URL to your bookmarks. As Mike pointed out, it has so much information that will help you in daily life providing you with many choices in many areas and save money as well. The "Click and Spend" feature has also expanded with new store offerings appearing regularly. It is amazing!

The web site is www.neamb.com

You won't be disappointed.

NOTE: even if you used this website previously, you must re-register to be able to log onto the newly revised and expanded site.

Thanks to many of our NEA and NEA-Retired members in urging passage of the economic recovery package, the legislation was passed and President Obama signed it. It includes the largest increase in federal funding for education in history. These funds will create or save over 267,000 teaching jobs and 40,000 education support jobs.

Importantly for retirees, it also includes not only the Making Work Pay tax credit of up to $800 for joint filers and $400 for other filers for 2009 and 2010, but also provides a one-time payment of $250 to many people on fixed incomes, such as Social Security recipients. The credit generally is phased out for joint filers with Adjusted Gross Incomes (AGI) exceeding $150,000 and for single filers with AGIs exceeding $75,000. Unlike last year's "recovery rebate," which was distributed via checks mailed to taxpayers, the new credit will generally be "paid" through a reduction in income tax withholding in our STRB month’s checks.

NEA cyberlobbyists made a big difference in the final outcome of this package. The proposed education funding was under serious attack and there was a very real threat that it would be cut. Your efforts turned the tide and saved the funding. Together, NEA and NEA=Retired members sent over 56,000 messages using the NEA Website to Members of Congress in just a few short days!

We could not have achieved this victory without you!

NOW IT’S TIME TO WORK AGAIN

BILL INTRODUCED IN THE SENATE TO REPEAL SOCIAL SECURITY OFFSETS

Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Collins (R-ME) have reintroduced the Senate version of the Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision. The Senate bill number is S. 484. It is identical to H.R. 235, which was introduced in the House of Representatives in January.

The Senate bill has 10 bipartisan cosponsors at the time and the list is growing; the House bill has 194 bipartisan cosponsors.

Contact your Members of Congress!

Tell your Senators and Representative to support the Social Security Fairness Act. Just go to the NEA Legislative Action Site for this legislation and let your Senators and Representative know that the legislation has been introduced again and that you’re looking forward to their support in this session.

In an October 22 letter, then Senator Obama expressed his clear support for repeal of the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision. In his letter directed specifically to NEA members, Senator Obama stated,

"Nobody should be penalized for serving our children, and that’s why I support repealing the GPO/WEP and will work to do so as President…the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset have a serious detrimental impact on hundreds of thousands of educators and your spouses. That’s why as a Senator I co-sponsored the Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal these provisions….I believe that we have a responsibility to take care of workers who have devoted their lives to public service and that we shouldn't discourage young people from working in these essential jobs at a time when so many teachers are at or near retirement age and we’re struggling to replace them."

The letter also stated, "I will work to repeal GPO and WEP, but I won’t stop there. We need to think now about how we provide retirement security for today’s retirees and workers retiring 20 or 30 or more years down the road. Let me tell you about my comprehensive plan. It starts with protecting Social Security. It is one of the most successful social programs in American history, and we need to preserve and maintain it, without risky privatization plans….Improving retirement security for educators…will be a high priority for me as President."

The letter concludes with, "I greatly appreciate the support I have from the NEA, and I look forward to working with you as President to create the changes we all want to see in our country."

News & Action
Visit the NEA Website for links to NEA’s position on Social Security and the newly introduced HR 235 at https://www.nea.org/home/16491.htm.

With reduced state and local funds and mandated state and federal education laws and regulations straining boards of education budgets during the past few years, many worthy school programs and projects have had to be abandoned as municipalities struggled to meet the fiscal mandates voted by residents in budget referenda throughout the state. The result has been that municipal and especially school budgets have more and more reflected only the essential expenditures.

As local school revenues plummet, the range of programs and services that will fall victim to declining dollars is both broad and deep. It is apparent that residents of local communities including parents and educators had not bargained on the dramatic impact on public education.

In most communities shrinking education funds sparked a remarkable grassroots response, the formation of the local education foundations (LEFs), 501 (C) 3 non-profit groups organized to provide support public education projects and programs not included in the local budget that would improve public education at the local level. More than 80 have been created in Connecticut over the past few years and are members of the Connecticut Consortium of Education Foundations, an organization created to help Connecticut education foundations succeed and share information and ideas

One of the most important tasks of these groups is finding new revenue sources to replace or augment traditional public funding and using that funding to provide the schools and their children with additional resources. In addition, the group serves as "conveners" with other non-profit groups to address community issues relating to education; links people and organizations in their communities with public schools, developing awareness and resource support; broadens support for public education and local schools with greater community awareness; and are exploring providing local schools with a variety of "in kind" or human resources.

We encourage retirees to go to the Connecticut Consortium of Education Foundations website http://www.ctcef.org/ctlef.html , find the local education foundation in their area, and find out what they can do to help.

Did you ever wonder how all of the materials are assembled for a mailing to potential and new members? It doesn’t happen just once a year nor it is a task that we ask our professional staff at CEA to perform for us.  It’s a function of both our Membership Committee and some dedicated members who are willing to travel to CEA, work on some necessary project, and renew long standing acquaintances.

Seen in the photo below are some members who got together to assemble and send out a mailing to potential members.  They are (left to right, Marilyn Ettman, Lucy Petrella, Membership Chair Vicky Greenberg, Barbara O’Keefe, and Marge Hubbard.

If you are interested in helping out on projects such as this or other committees, please send an e-mail to Danielle at daniellec@cea.org.