HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) —If Texas Proposition 9 is passed, those in the teacher retirement system will receive a cost-of-living adjustment.
The cost-of-living adjustment will increase retired teachers’ monthly checks between 2 to 6%, depending on when they retired.
Certain retirees who are at least 75 years old would receive a one-time additional payment.
“The cost-of-living adjustment is already paid for, it doesn’t create any sort of new tax burden on the voters of Texas, that comes out of the surplus that we had from last year,” said Monty Exter, Director of Governmental Relations for the Association of Texas Professional Educators. “And because of the way it’s structured, it also would maintain the fiscal soundness of the teacher retirement fund.”
According to the Texas Retired Teacher Association, about 420,000 retirees could see a pay increase.
The amount depends on the year they retired. Those who retired on or before 2001, will receive the largest amount, 6%.
Those who qualify include retired teachers and administrators.
“Teacher retirement is not a particularly big amounts that they get. And so, and it doesn’t increase over time in the way social security does,” Exter said. “Also, most teachers in the state of Texas don’t get social security. So this is really the only solid income that they’re getting into their retirement years.”
If proposition nine passes, it will the first raise retired teachers see in over 20 years.
Early voting for the Nov. 7 election ends Nov. 3.
