Educators have a right to a secure retirement.
Our educator workforce deserves to retire in dignity and security, and we can’t do that on the $2,199 per month the average teacher receives from the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS). Texas voters turned out in force in 2023 to support Prop A, the first statewide TRS cost-of-living increase in nearly two decades. But that was a one-time Band-Aid. Texas needs to join almost every other state in making sure its retired educators get annual, automatic pension increases that are tied to inflation.
Our Texas AFT Retiree Plus activists frequently appear at the Capitol to testify before committees and to meet personally with individual legislators to explain their personal experience as retirees. And some legislators are listening, filing bills in support of an educator’s right to retire with dignity:
HB 1596 by Mihaela Plesa (D-Dallas) and HB 2087 by Armando Martinez (D-Hidalgo) are identical bills that would provide a long overdue structural change to TRS by providing annuitants with an annual cost-of-living adjustment tied to the consumer price index. The annual adjustment would be limited to the fund’s ability to pay for the increase to annuity without endangering the actuarial soundness of the fund. In that instance, TRS could adjust the percentage downward to ensure that the fund remains actuarially sound while still providing an increase.
As noted earlier in the Hotline, the actuarial impact statement attached to the SB 2 voucher bill states that “even a small adjustment such as a decrease in the projected covered payroll growth could be enough for TRS to no longer be actuarially sound
In other words, there is cause for concern that a private school voucher program could undermine not only the public school system, with an estimated price tag of $4 billion per year by 2030, the program also could negatively affect the actuarial soundness of the TRS pension fund, prohibiting any increases in annuities and causing the need for increased contributions from both teachers and the state.
HB 2163 was filed by Rep. Alma Allen (D-Houston) who is a life-long educator and knows this issue from a personal level. Like the bills noted above, HB 2163 recognizes the reality that retirees have been struggling financially when their pension fund does not account for inflation. The bill would first require TRS to provide a one-time 10% annuity increase. Then, TRS would be required to provide a constant 4% adjustment for inflation every year thereafter.
Texas AFT appreciates these efforts by legislators who recognize the financial constraints our retirees are facing after years of record levels of inflation. We know many legislators have heard directly from our Retiree Plus members who tell compelling stories of how past annuity adjustments significantly helped them and their families.