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HELP A TEACHER IN NEED
The Henry Barnard Memorial Fund was established to help needy teachers who have served but are no longer active in the teaching profession. Click here to find out how you can help.

The Teachers’ Retirement Board (TRB) will be changing Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBM) with a target date of February 1, 2010.  Your TRB Medco prescription card will no longer be valid after the new PBM contract is in effect.　 The PBM will be selected in November, 2009, as we are currently conducting interviews.  The deductible for the calendar year 2009 will be extended through January 31, 2010.   February 1, 2010 your deductible will be reset back to the full annual deductible of $250 and will run through December 31, 2010.　 　　

If you are a current member of the Teachers’ Retirement Board Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance Plan, expect a member orientation package and a prescription card from the new PBM in your US postal mail box in January of 2010.　

If you joined the plan during calendar year 2009 and have not met your deductible by February 1, 2010 you will be required to meet a new deductible beginning on that date.　

You may visit the Teachers’ Retirement Board web-site at http://www.ct.gov/trb for updates.　

While many of us still refer to the Teachers’ Retirement Board sponsored self-insured Medicare supplemental health plan as Stirling and Stirling, it’s now called Stirling Benefits.  It's the supplemental health care offering provided through the Connecticut State Teacher's Retirement Board.

The Connecticut TRB recently announced the premiums for these plans effective January 1, 2010 as follows:

　　　　Cost = Per Member Per Month　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

While your CEA-Retired Delegates were in San Diego attending the NEA-Retired Annual Meeting, they had the opportunity to attend an orientation to the Census In Schools (CIS) program provided by Census Bureau staff. The program offered a glimpse of the upcoming 2010 enumeration of population and housing and a preview of CIS materials being mailed to every public school across the country in early Fall 2009.　　

Staff from NEA External Partnerships and Advocacy provided details about the NEA's partnership with the Census including targeting schools adjacent to "hard to count" populations, assuring confidential treatment of Census information, reaching non-English speaking communities in their home language, and ensuring educators are represented on local Complete Count Committees.

An accurate Census count affects local school budgets, especially Title I and special education funding, as well as college tuition grant and loan programs.

Perhaps most importantly, 2010 Census results will determine how Congress is reapportioned and may impact redistricting of state legislatures, and city and town voting districts throughout the country. This directly impacts NEA and CEA’s goal of electing pro public education allies in the Congress and State legislatures.

Job Opportunities
For 2010, the Census Bureau is hiring hundreds of thousands of temporary workers to fill a variety of census positions across the country. Area residents can apply to earn good weekly pay, enjoy flexible hours and be part of a historic opportunity to serve their communities. More information is available at http://www.census.gov/hrd/www/.

Watch for more information about our partnership with the U.S. Census. 

Not only has NEA Member Benefits’ re-designed its website as showcased to our members at the New London County Retired Meeting just recently, but also added several new offers. Mike Reilly, NEA Member Benefits Regional Representative, made the presentation pointing out the many benefits available to retirees and active members including new ones like HeatUSA, a fuel oil Co-Op offering NEA members a great discount.. You should really check out the new NEA Member Benefits website and add its new URL to your bookmarks. As Mike pointed out, it has so much information that will help you in daily life providing you with many choices in many areas and save money as well. The "Click and Save" feature has also expanded with new store offerings appearing regularly. It is amazing!

The web site is www.neamb.com

You won't be disappointed.

NOTE: Even if you used this website previously, you must re-register to be able to log onto the newly revised and expanded site.

With reduced state and local funds and mandated state and federal education laws and regulations straining boards of education budgets during the past few years, many worthy school programs and projects have had to be abandoned as municipalities struggled to meet the fiscal mandates voted by residents in budget referenda throughout the state. The result has been that municipal and especially school budgets have more and more reflected only the essential expenditures.

As local school revenues plummet, the range of programs and services that will fall victim to declining dollars is both broad and deep. It is apparent that residents of local communities including parents and educators had not bargained on the dramatic impact on public education.

In most communities shrinking education funds sparked a remarkable grassroots response, the formation of the local education foundations (LEFs), 501 (C) 3 non-profit groups organized to provide support public education projects and programs not included in the local budget that would improve public education at the local level. More than 80 have been created in Connecticut over the past few years and are members of the Connecticut Consortium of Education Foundations, an organization created to help Connecticut education foundations succeed and share information and ideas

One of the most important tasks of these groups is finding new revenue sources to replace or augment traditional public funding and using that funding to provide the schools and their children with additional resources. In addition, the group serves as "conveners" with other non-profit groups to address community issues relating to education; links people and organizations in their communities with public schools, developing awareness and resource support; broadens support for public education and local schools with greater community awareness; and are exploring providing local schools with a variety of "in kind" or human resources.

We encourage retirees to go to the Connecticut Consortium of Education Foundations website http://www.ctcef.org/ctlef.html , find the local education foundation in their area, and find out what they can do to help.

Did you ever wonder how all of the materials are assembled for a mailing to potential and new members? It doesn’t happen just once a year nor it is a task that we ask our professional staff at CEA to perform for us.  It’s a function of both our Membership Committee and some dedicated members who are willing to travel to CEA, work on some necessary project, and renew long standing acquaintances.

Seen in the photo below are some members who got together to assemble and send out a mailing to potential members.  They are (left to right, Marilyn Ettman, Lucy Petrella, Membership Chair Vicky Greenberg, Barbara O’Keefe, and Marge Hubbard.

If you are interested in helping out on projects such as this or other committees, please send an e-mail to Danielle at daniellec@cea.org.