Special Edition - April 2003
the e-publication of OCEA
Special Edition - April 2003 Volume 2, Number 4.5
In this issue (click on the links below):
Rally at the Legislature – May 7
May Day – Social Security Alert
Are You Highly Qualified?
Light of Education Banquet
Web Links
CONTACT THE LEGISLATURE!
TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
Rally at the Legislature – May 7We are past the half way mark for this Legislative session, and the Legislature has done nothing to correct the state budget deficit. Nevada is facing a fiscal crisis made all the more alarming since our Legislature only meets every two years. If this problem is not addressed this session, potential catastrophe awaits our public schools.
As you’re aware, this task is all the more daunting because it takes a two-thirds majority of both houses to pass a tax bill in Nevada. According to Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, 80% of the contacts Legislators are receiving are against any tax changes. We need to act! If we do not speak up for public education, who will?
If the Legislature refuses to act, the coming years will look grim for CCSD. First, expect no salary or benefit increases and perhaps even erosion of both. CCSD should be fiscally sound enough to weather next year, but you can expect increased class sizes with no new staff or programs. Next will be cuts to programs, followed by lay-offs and even larger class sizes. These predictions sound “gloom and doom,” but one only needs to look as far as Oregon to see how quickly they can become a reality. We need to act! If we do not speak up for public education, who will?
OCEA and the Douglas County teachers and support staff are organizing a rally at the Legislature on Wednesday, May 7, at 4:00. We are inviting parents, students, educators, and support staff from Carson and Douglas as well as the surrounding counties to participate. On April 17, Building Reps will be given postcards for members to send to Legislators to call for adequate and stable funding. These cards, in flats of four, will be distributed to all members at each school. Please take the time to fill out one or more yourself and ask a family member or friend to fill out the rest. Each card needs to be addressed to a specific Legislator. Even if you cannot attend the rally on May 7, give your cards to someone who will be there to deliver to the Legislator’s office.
Legislators to contact:
Senator Mark Amodei (Capital District) – Explain how the situation is affecting or
may affect you. Thank him for proposing new revenue sources and encourage
him to do more.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio – Explain how the situation is affecting or may affect you. Encourage him to bring the issues regarding adequate funding to a vote of the Senate.
Assemblyman Ron Knecht (District 40) – Explain how the situation is affecting or
may affect you. Encourage him to rethink his position that no new funding sources are necessary.
Assemblyman Tom Grady (District 38) – Explain how the situation is affecting or
may affect you.
Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins – Explain how the situation is affecting or
may affect you. Encourage him to bring the issues regarding adequate funding to a vote of the Assembly.
We need to act! If we do not speak up for public education, who will?
Contact Quest at: JGREB@carson.k12.nv.us
May Day – Social Security Alert
(Building Reps will receive information on the GPO & WEP at the April 17 OCEA meeting.)
The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) are two laws that prevent public employees from receiving their complete Social Security benefits they have earned. Because they receive PERS, teachers in Nevada fall under these two bad laws. In other words, if you worked in another state or at another job prior to teaching in Nevada, or while you’re teaching, or after you retire, and that other job qualifies you for Social Security benefits, the WEP cuts the full benefit by up to two-thirds. (The yearly statement from the Social Security Administration does not reflect this reduction.) The GPO affects spousal benefits because you receive PERS!
While anyone eligible for a state pension (police, fire, and state workers) is affected by these laws, teachers have had the loudest voice urging Congress to change them. (This lobby effort is one of the important things being done for us by the NEA.) There are two bills, HR 594 and SB 349, currently being considered in Congress to repeal these bad laws and restore full benefits to those who have earned them. Congressman Gibbons and Senator Reid support these bills; however, Senator Ensign opposes changing the law.
What You Can Do To Help
Over April 30 and May 1 Nevadans are asked to conduct an email campaign to urge the passage of HR 594 and SB 349. Ask relatives and friends if they will contact Congress too. Inform others affected by the offsets, and who may not know it, about them.
Suggested emails:
§ Thank Reid and Gibbons for supporting HR 594 and SB 349. Urge them to make a speech from the floor about them.
§ Urge Ensign to endorse SB 349. Reasons:
1. Basic fairness. These are benefits earned by people, not extras. Private pensions are under no such restrictions. Why should people who devote themselves to public service be penalized?
2. Economics. Ensign supports tax reform in the guise of economic stimulus that will mostly benefit the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Although repealing the GPO and WEP is expensive (about $50 billion over ten years), it is still only about 4% of the tax cuts he voted for. Which do you think will provide more of an economic stimulus: giving retirees struggling to make ends meet their full benefits, or giving the richest Americans more money back? Of the two, who is more likely to put the money right back into the economy, which is what an economic stimulus is supposed to do?
3. Recruitment. It is getting harder and harder to get qualified people to choose to teach. As word of the effects of these offsets becomes more widely known, finding people willing to do what we do as a career will become even more difficult.
Make an effort to get the word out and to contact these public servants on May Day.
Senator John Ensign
600 East Williams St., Suite 304
Carson City, NV 89701
phone number : 885-9111
fax number: 883-5590
email: http://ensign.senate.gov
Senator Harry Reid
600 East Williams St., Suite 302
Carson City, NV 89701
phone number: 882-7343
fax number: 883-1980
email: http://reid.senate.gov
Contact Quest at: JGREB@carson.k12.nv.us
Under HR1, the so-called “No Child Left Behind” Federal law, all teachers who provide “core content credit” in English, language arts, mathematics, science, foreign language, civics and government, economics, arts, history, or geography must be “highly qualified” by 2005-2006. The law goes on to specify how one is determined to be highly qualified. It is incumbent upon you to make sure you are highly qualified before the deadline. (There is more detailed information on the subject available at http://www.nea.org/ and http://www.nsea-nv.org/.)
Although there are specifics about which you need to educate yourself, there are some basic assumptions that apply to most teachers. If you have passed all the state mandated tests for each subject you teach, you are highly qualified. If you were hired prior to the state mandating testing, you have a few options. You can choose to take and pass the necessary test(s); you can get a graduate degree in the subject; or you may qualify under “HOUSE.”
“HOUSE” is High Objective Uniform Statewide Standard of Evaluation. Each state, following Federal guidelines, can write standards to “grandfather-in” experienced teachers. NSEA has worked closely with the State Department of Education on Nevada’s HOUSE requirements. The requirements are about as liberal as they can be and still follow the Federal mandate and are in the process of reaching final approval.
Some members wonder, “Where was the NEA in this process and why didn’t they stop it?” NEA warned its members that laws such as HR1 would be passed if George W. Bush were elected president. Once he was, NEA, and the 2.7 million educators it represents, was purposely shut out of much of the discussion at the formative stages by an administration that pays lip service to education, but is not interested in truly improving public schools. NEA did broker some important changes to the law, however, such as the inclusion of the HOUSE provision.
Contact Quest at: JGREB@carson.k12.nv.us
The OCEA Light of Education Banquet is on Tuesday, May 6, at the Carson Nugget. The following teachers are being recognized by their peers for their good work:
CHS – John Valley
CMS – Terry Parent
– Guy Maffei
EVMS – Katie Lautzenhiser
Bordewich-Bray – Nichole Medieros
– Paula Stevens
Fremont – Kathy Rothchild
Fritch – Mary Lundstrom
– Charlene Webster
Mark Twain – MaryAlice Murdock
Seeliger & Special Services – Tara Hornemann
– Susan Henrie
– Debbie Mead (Golden Apple Winner)
There will also be two Friends of Education honored.
Please make reservations to attend by Wednesday, April 30!
Contact Quest at: JGREB@carson.k12.nv.us
Web Links
¨ OCEA – local information; e-mail officers; education links http://home.pyramid.net/ocea/index.html
¨ NSEA – statewide information; legislative updates; member benefits http://www.nsea-nv.org
¨ NEA – national information; numerous links to many education sites http://www.nea.org
¨ NEA Member Benefits – lots of connections to other sites and free stuff http://www.neamb.com
¨ Works4me – an online source, created by NEA, for educators to share
http://www.nea.org/helpfrom/growing/works4me/library.html
¨ OWL – national site, created by NEA, for educators to share ideas
