. The vast majority of the state’s retired educators don’t receive Social Security, leaving them reliant on pension benefits that have long failed to keep pace with cost-of-living expenses, even before the country’s latest inflation surge. More than half of them have never seen an increase in their monthly payments.
Last year, House lawmakers considered increasing benefit payments by 6 percent, capped at $100 per check, under a measure that received widespread support from both parties but never advanced to the floor of the Texas House for a vote. The pension bump would have cost an estimated $3.6 billion if covered through an immediate lump sum payment.
They are encouraging lawmakers to turn to the state’s anticipated surplus to pay as much as possible up front, arguing that would save money in the long term and keep the pension fund financially stable. Some retiree advocacy groups have also suggested phasing in the increases over time.applying the change to those who retired before September 2004
Advocates say these occasional payouts do little to move the needle for retired educators who have otherwise lived on fixed incomes for years and seen their buying power crater. A recent nonprofit report found that Texas still offers“Educated retention is based on more than working conditions today,” Felicia Owens, a member of the Texas State Teachers Association, told members of the House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services Committee in June.
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