Worried teachers, mixed messages, meetings aplenty

By Emily Richmond

Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

The ins and outs of retirement will be discussed at a series of workshops sponsored by the Clark Retired Education Association, which represents about 600 retired School District teachers.

Teachers contemplating retirement, as well as retired educators with questions about recent changes to state law, are invited to attend, said Judith Hamblin, president of the association.

All sessions will be held at Woodbury Middle School, 3875 E. Harmon Ave., Las Vegas. Representatives from the Social Security Administration, the Public Employees' Retirement System and the Public Employees' Benefits Program will lead the workshops. For more information, call Hamblin at 565-7671.

Tuesday, Oct. 23

3:30 p.m. - Social Security

4:30 p.m. - Social Security (repeat session)

Wednesday, Oct. 24

3:30 to 6:30 p.m. - Public Employees' Benefits Program. Director Leslie Johnstone and staff scheduled to attend.

Thursday, Oct. 25

3:30 p.m. - Public Employees' Retirement System

4:30 p.m. - Public Employees' Retirement System (repeat session)

The Clark Retired Education Association has had an informational meeting each fall for teachers contemplating leaving the workforce in the next 12 months. The event, held at the association's modest offices, typically attracts fewer than 100 educators.

But this year, with the shadow of a change in state law looming, the association expects hundreds of teachers to show up.

Presenters will include representatives from the state Public Employees' Benefits Program and the Public Employees' Retirement System, as well as the Social Security Administration.

The meeting is being moved to a local middle school's gymnasium to accommodate the expected crowds, and sessions will be held over three days.

"Teachers need to know all of the options," said Judith Hamblin, president of the association , which represents about 600 retired educators. "The consequences of their choices have to see them through the next 30 years."

The high level of interest is spurred by an ongoing District Court case and a change to state law, both of which could have serious implications for Clark County School District employees and retirees.

A District Court judge ruled last month that Metro Police, which already contributed to a health trust negotiated with the union, was exempt from a 2003 law that required public employers to pay a subsidy for their retirees who joined the state's health care plan. Because the School District's teachers have a similarly negotiated health trust, state officials say 1,900 retired teachers also might be ineligible for the subsidized coverage.

Complicating matters are changes to Nevada law regarding the state health plan. In 2003, lawmakers required nonstate employers to subsidize costs for retirees who joined the state health plan. That raised fears the plan would be swamped with expensive retirees without benefitting from premiums paid into the plan by active employees. This year, the Legislature changed the rules again, prohibiting nonstate employers from sending retirees to the health plan unless all active employees were enrolled as well.

Nonstate public employees who retire by Sept. 1, 2008 will be eligible for the lower-cost health care. After that, the health care option will be available only to retirees whose employers send all workers - retired and active - to the state plan. That has many teachers contemplating early retirement. That possibility has the School District eager to stave off an exodus.

The Clark County Education Association, which is working with the district and the Teachers' Health Trust on potential alternatives, has identified about 700 teachers who have served 25 to 32 years, the typical range for retirement, Executive Director John Jasonek said.

"What would make sense is to put a plan in place for that group and make sure it's stable for at least the next five years," Jasonek said.

Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes said all options are on the table, including proposals by private health insurance carriers and the possibility of sending the district's active employees to the state plan. Changes to the coverage must be negotiated with the teachers union. The meetings are expected to continue through November, with an alternative health care plan for retirees to be announced early next year.

However , one thing is nonnegotiable, Rulffes said: The district cannot afford to subsidize retirees' health care costs at the level currently offered by the state. As for the retired employees on the state health plan, Rulffes said the district is waiting for the state Supreme Court's review of the Metro case and for possible action by the Legislature.

"I do think the district has an obligation to facilitate, to the extent that we can, a remedy for teachers in retirement who have put in years of loyal service," Rulffes said.