DeWitt County Retired School Personnel Meet

• Becky Williams -District III Legislative Chair for Retired School Personnel

The DeWitt County Retired School Personnel met in February at the CISD Boardroom with President Sandra Tate calling the meeting to order.

Before the business meeting began, the group remembered members Laura Whitson, Debra Baros, Becky Sprinkle, and founding member Mary Wood, all who died in the past month.

Guest speaker Becky Williams, District III Legislative Chair and State Representative for District III, congratulated members on their hard work making legislators aware that Texas Retired Teachers had not had a COLA since 2013, and then it applied to only those who retired by 2004. This measure was long overdue because the rate of inflation continued to rise during those years. She reported that the vote during the 88 th legislature was unanimous for this bill. Eighty one percent of DeWitt County voters then voted for the proposition that allowed the COLA. Williams reminded retirees that the Retired Teacher’s Association does not endorse candidates and encouraged members to do as much research about the candidates as possible before voting in the 2024 primaries.

Tate reminded members that February is Healthy Heart Month, and members should be monitoring their blood pressure regularly. Judy Fetters told members about several scams that are going around, especially aimed at older people. It was announced that the State RTA convention will be held in Corpus Christi April 15 – 17, and the District Leadership Conference will be held in Hallettsville on May 8.

Any retired person who is part of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (in any position), regardless of where the service was rendered, is eligible to belong to the DeWitt County Retired School Personnel. For more information, call Sandra Tate at 361-2753053.