BY JEFF B. FLINN Managing Editor
Those attending the Kendall County Retired Teachers Association monthly meeting on Thursday exchanged greetings and salutations with grins on their faces, more so than in months and years past.
The meeting was their first since Nov. 7, when voters in Texas overwhelmingly approved Proposition 9, which increases pensions for the state’s retired teachers.
Richard Herbst, a member of the Kendall Country Retired Teachers Association and one of 20 district legislative chairs in the state, said the group is pleased with the voter support and appreciates the opportunity to inform state residents of their financial situation.
While admitting a level of confidence the proposition would pass, Herbst said there was some uncertainty about putting the payment to a vote.
“There was some trepidation heading into Election Day, because you just never know,” Herbst said. “I felt good about it. We took the chance to educate people that we as teachers don’t get Social Security, and to let them know that teachers haven’t had a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in over 20 years. This was long overdue.”
Passage of Prop 9 allows the state to use $3.3 billion to fund COLAs for the state's more than 476,000 retired educators.
Herbst said educators who retired before Aug. 31, 2001 will receive a 6% monthly increase. Those who retired between Aug. 31, 2001, and Aug. 31, 2013, will receive a 4% increase, and retirees leaving the field between Aug. 31, 2013, and Aug. 31, 2020, receive a 2% adjustment.
Herbst, who taught and coached in Boerne from 1999 to 2007 before eventually retiring in 2016 while at Clark High School in San Antonio, moved back to Boerne in 2014 with his wife, also an educator.
The Legislature’s approval of Senate Bill 10 in May put the COLAon the ballot last week. The increases become effective with the first checks being sent out in January 2024.
Still, Herbst said there’s much work to be done to improve the educational atmosphere in the state, particularly in Austin.
“When you look at educational support from the state level,” he said, “with public education, we haven’t done a good job with (supporting) that. For pay, we haven’t done a good job for that. We’re in the bottom half, nationally, with all of those.
“We’re bragging about having one of the biggest economies in the world, in Texas,” he said. “If they want to help, and until education becomes a priority at the legislative level, then we’re going to have to fight like crazy for what we deserve.”
Herbst said there are more than 1,200 educational retirees in Kendall County. Of those who are members of the Kendal County Retired Teachers Association, about 60 percent have been retired long enough to receive at least the 4% COLA increase.
“It’ll make an economic impact here in our local communities,” he said. “It came out two years ago that retired teachers in Kendall County will spend about $66 million of their pay in Kendall County.
“That’s a pretty good chunk of money that stays right here in our economy,” he added.
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