{"id":5481,"date":"2022-04-06T08:48:42","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T12:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=5481"},"modified":"2022-04-06T08:48:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T12:48:44","slug":"the-ohio-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/04\/06\/the-ohio-way\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ohio Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Retirement <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I am a retired teacher.  I worked for thirty-five and a half years, and got what I thought was a great deal when I retired.  It was \u201cpart of the plan\u201d.  No one was going to get rich teaching public school, but there was always the \u201cpromise\u201d of a great retirement system at the end.  It was so good, that when I started teaching, they exempted us from Medicare and Social Security.  Instead, we paid a greater percentage of our salary into State Teacher Retirement, and our School District matched the amount.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The promise:\u00a0\u00a0a great retirement system \u2013 one of the best in the country.\u00a0\u00a0Today Ohio Teacher Retirement is rated 36th in the Nation with an \u201cF\u201d grade (Bellweather<\/a>). (And<\/em>\u00a0Ohio teachers today do have to pay Social Security and Medicare.\u00a0\u00a0They earn Medicare benefits, but while they also earn Social Security they only get a small portion of what they earn \u2013 the rest are taxed away as a \u201cwindfall\u201d).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Deal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What was my \u201cdeal\u201d, the retirement \u201ccontract\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I worked more than thirty-five years.\u00a0\u00a0I could have retired at thirty years with two-thirds of my income.\u00a0\u00a0But there was a teacher shortage and they encouraged us \u201cold\u201d teachers to hang on. By working the extra five years, I retired with 88% of my annual income.\u00a0\u00a0(I was one of the last for that deal \u2013 now it\u2019s 77% thirty-five years<\/em>).\u00a0\u00a0And as I planned my retirement, I was promised a 3%\u00a0\u00a0annual Cost of Living Allowance increase (COLA) for the rest of my life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got my 88%.  But a couple years before I retired, they cut the COLA to 2% instead of 3%.  And the year before I retired, the put a five-year hold on all COLA\u2019s.  And then five years later, they determined to not give COLA increases at all.  (Last month, they finally did approve a one-time 3% increase<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Deal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m lucky, my wife retired with great health insurance and I\u2019m on her policy.  If I were on teacher\u2019s health insurance, I\u2019d be paying a lot more.  Like everyone else, I purchase Medicare (Part B), the \u201cdoctor care\u201d part of it.  But since I never paid into Medicare, I never \u201cearned\u201d the biggest part of Medicare, hospitalization (Part A).  If I had to buy that, it\u2019d be almost $500 a month, in addition to all the other insurance.  So much for the \u201cgreat deal\u201d there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the \u201cnew deal\u201d is:  live on what you made almost a decade ago.  I can do that, but with inflation, it\u2019s worth 21% less than when I retired.  I\u2019m now effectively living on 70% of my annual income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019m doing some substitute teaching, just to cover the \u201cdifference\u201d.  Substituting doesn\u2019t pay what teaching pays, and it shouldn\u2019t.  A sub isn\u2019t grading papers, making lesson plans, or participating in conferences and meetings.  You walk in, pick up your packet from the office, and supervise kids.  When the bell rings to end the day, your work is done. On an hourly basis, I\u2019m making less than a third of what I made on contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s fine too \u2013 it\u2019s a choice I make when I substitute.  But there\u2019s even a \u201chitch\u201d to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Work \u2013 Their Money<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a substitute teacher, the School District is still required to take 14% of my substitute salary out for \u201cretirement\u201d. (Ohio has the highest percent withholding in the nation, more than 2% greater than any other state<\/em>).  State Teacher Retirement takes that 14% and puts it in an \u201cannuity for me\u201d, paying a small annual interest as long as I continue to substitute.  Once I stop, the interest payments stop as well, and State Teacher Retirement \u201cencourages\u201d me to remove the annuity (and pay taxes on it<\/em>).  In addition, the School District matches my 14%, just as they did when I was on contract as a teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But THEIR 14%, paid for MY work, just goes into the general retirement fund.  I don\u2019t get it, I don\u2019t benefit from it, and neither does the School District.  Money paid BY the School District, FOR MY WORK, is paid like a \u201cfee\u201d to the State Teacher Retirement to do with what they will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I wasn\u2019t a retired teacher, that \u201cfee\u201d would go to my retirement.\u00a0\u00a0But since I\u2019m drawing my retirement, it\u2019s a \u201cpenalty\u201d paid because I\u2019m teaching again.\u00a0\u00a0I work for it, but I don\u2019t benefit from it.\u00a0\u00a0And neither does the District.\u00a0\u00a0They are paying into a State Teacher Retirement \u201cblack hole\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio’s Way<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are over 20,000 substitute teachers here in Ohio.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While exact numbers aren\u2019t available, a substantial number of them are retired teachers.\u00a0\u00a0And all of those retired teachers are paying\u00a0\u00a0into a retirement system \u201cfor the privilege\u201d of working while drawing retirement. They are being penalized \u2013 even though it\u2019s the School Districts that are paying the penalty.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abraham Lincoln, in his debate with Stephen Douglas said: “You toil and work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou do the work, State Teacher Retirement will get the benefit\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s not the American way.  It shouldn\u2019t be Ohio\u2019s way either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retirement I am a retired teacher.  I worked for thirty-five and a half years, and got what I thought was a great deal when I retired.  It was \u201cpart of the plan\u201d.  No one was going to get rich teaching public school, but there was always the \u201cpromise\u201d of a great retirement system at the end.  It was so … Continue reading “The Ohio Way”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Ohio Way : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am a retired teacher. 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