Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 15:12:12 -0700
Subject: Rapid Response Teams: Results!

Dear Team Member,

I just recently returned from vacation and wanted to share with you some
of the results of our Rapid Response Team. Earlier this month we prepared
a response to an editorial in the Los Angeles Times which made derogatory
remarks about the teachers' pension system, and that letter was
published. President George Avak reports he has received numerous
telephone calls and letters from people who saw the letter, which
validates our belief that these activities help increase the profile of
CRTA.

During my absence, Angelique Hill responded to a column in the Sacramento
Bee by columnist Daniel Weintraub, a reflexive opponent of public
pensions. That response was also printed.

I have provided the content of our letters below, for your information.

I hope you are trying to place the guest commentary I distributed
earlier. If you have questions about the logistics of that, please give
me a call or drop me an e-mail and I will assist you to the best of my
ability. Thanks and have a great Fourth of July holiday.

In the Los Angeles Times:

While you raise many challenging questions in your editorial ("School
escape plan" June 2), at least one is easily answered­-and corrected. You
ask "Who would be responsible for the district's disastrous teacher
pension commitment?"

First, teacher pensions are a state commitment, not the responsibility of
the local school district's beyond their requirement to pay into the
system. Second, and more seriously, it's outrageous that you would
consider a financial commitment to a teacher for a lifetime of service as
"disastrous." Despite misleading claims by public pension opponents, the
state teacher retirement system is neither a disaster nor in crisis. If
no change were made in the current system, it would have sufficient
assets to pay full benefits for another 60 years.

The decisions to be made about the future of the Los Angeles schools are
complex. False information does not help that debate.

George Avak
President
California Retired Teachers Assocation


In The Sacramento Bee:

Daniel Weintraub wants the public to erroneously believe teacher pensions
are lavish and out of control. He repeats  Gov. Schwarzenegger's
suggestion that the answer to the state's financial woes is to dump
defined benefit pensions in favor of a defined contribution system.
Weintraub suggests California tax-payers would be at risk if the defined
benefit pension system continues.

The fact is 90 percent of the money used to fund the retirement system
comes from employee and employer contributions. Over the last decade the
state reduced its contribution to the fund by over 50 percent. Had it not
done so, CalSTRS would not be facing a shortfall today.

The California Retired Teachers Association supports an increase in the
employer contribution rates rather than new cost to the taxpayer. CalSTRS
has enough money currently to pay benefits for the next 60 years.

The trustees of the Teachers Retirement Board have a fiduciary obligation
to the Fund and its clients, not to the state or the Governor.

Angelique Hill
Executive Director
California Retired Teachers Association




Ed Ely
Director of Communications
California Retired Teachers Association
P.O. Box 2640
Fair Oaks, CA   95628
(916) 966-5933
(916) 966-5944 (fax)
ebepr@pacbell.net