Response to story on teacher retirement

Chester Cunningham, a retired school administrator, sent me a list of 10 points regarding teacher retirement. He wrote in response to the story I wrote here about the state attorney general's ruling that a direct payment to retirees did not meet constitutional muster.

Cunningham of Fritch is a legislative chairman for District XVI of the Texas Retired Teachers Association.

Here's what he wrote, with only minor editing:

"There are several things that the legislature and taxpayer need to know about active and retired teachers.

1. The Texas retired and active teachers have in the past and continue to save the taxpayers billions and billions of dollars because they have chosen not to participate in Social Security. If they had chosen to participate in Social Security, the state would have to be contributing over 6 percent of their salary to Social Security in addition to the amount the state contributes to their TRS retirement program. If retired teachers had participated in Social Security, the national government would have to be paying retired school personnel billions of dollars a year.

2. The Texas retired and active teachers have in the past and continue to save the taxpayers billions and billions of dollars by working for salaries that are lower than the national average.

3. The Texas retired and active teachers have in the past and continue to save the taxpayers billions and billions of dollars by accepting a retirement program that does not have a (cost-of-living adjustment), while the majority of the retired and active teachers across the nation are provided with a retirement program that provides a (cost-of-living adjustment) in their state retirement program, including the surrounding states of New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas and Louisiana.

4. Texas contributes over twice as much to the retirement program of other state employees than it does to the Teacher Retirement program when you consider the amount contributed to the Social Security program of other state employees. Even if the state contributed the constitutional maximum amount of 10 percent, it would be less than is contributed to the total retirement program of ERS employees.

5. The TRS retirement fund is not tax dollars. It is an $88 billion fund, one of the largest in the nation, that was built by the investment teams hired by TRS to invest the teachers' contributions to their retirement program. It attracts greed and corruption from all over the state, nation and world.

6. The TRS retirement fund pays approximately $6 billion dollars annually into the Texas economy resulting in over 80,000 jobs and generating over $500 million dollars in state and local taxes.

7. The request for a supplemental check of $500 for retired school personnel was met with 100 percent approval in the House of Representatives and a majority of the Senate.

8. The Attorney General stated there were several ways the legislature could have legally granted a benefit increase.

9. However, there were apparently just a few Senators in the Finance Committee who were able to override the will of the majority -- and that's not right -- no matter how you slice it.

10. There are over 1.2 million members of TRS. We are not whining and asking for a handout from politicians that we helped elect. We are simply asking for fairness and justice."