Our First Gathering

Our meeting began at 11:00 on a bright and beautiful morning. Our president, Carol Poole, told us of her recent cruise through Europe. The only hitch in the journey's giddy up was that the cruise lines "lost" their luggage. But Carol, as always, was prepared. She then read a poem. "New Beginnings," an inspirational piece to start us off. She introduced our guest speaker, Paul Graham. Mr. Graham is a field service representative for PEBA, Public Employee Benefit Authority. He told us that all services for public employees as well as retired folks are now covered by this umbrella, PEBA. It does make sense that these services would be gathered in one place.  That is one plus for South Carolina.
There have been changes in the retirement system with most of these affecting those who retired after 2013 and current employees still working in the educational system. We retirees are considered Class 2: nothing has changed for us. But Class 3 (those who will retire and did retire after January 1, 2013) will find some changes:
1. Cannot add sick or annual leave to years of service ( remember we could add up to 90 days!);
2. Rule of 90: for full retirement you add up- your age plus years of service have to equal 90.
3. The monthly allotment is now based on five years instead of three years.
4. Class 3 will be vested after 8 years. (Ours was after 5 years I think.)
5. If one retired after January 1, 2013 there is an earnings limit. If you are under 60 years of age you can only earn $10,000 a year.
These changes will make it easier for the system to remain solvent according to Mr. Graham..

Newsworthy item:
 TERI is on life support at this point. TERI ends on June 30, 2018!
Mr. Graham encouraged all to access their account and information online. He gave out handouts to show how easy it will be to register for PEBA. There is a link at the bottom of my home page that will take you to my page that has the directions he gave us in registering on-line for PEBA. Look for "How to Access the Retirement System On-line." Also I have a link to the retirement system on the right-hand side of the home page.
 As far as health insurance: no changes in premiums and October is open enrollment month with dental plus availability this year. Yea!

We had a tad over 2/3 of our membership in attendance. Our lunch was catered by Cluster 3. It was delicious. Thank you all for such great food.

Anticipation

Tomorrow the members of the CCREA will meet for the first time. Our speaker from the state benefits office will be our guest. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say. It will be good to see old friends again and make plans within each cluster group. I hope all will look at our organization as an active one and plan to participate as much as possible. Cluster 3 will be providing refreshments after our guest finishes the presentation. All of us should pitch in and be available to help with set-up and the clean up.

Our Meeting Place

The Beginnings

The Charleston County Retired Educators Association is opened to all retired educators in our area. This is not just for CCSD retired employees. We welcome all and any who have had any part in our educational system. We meet six times each year starting in September. We have diversified speakers as well as different student presentations. Our first meeting is on Tuesday, September 29, 2015. Our meetings begin at 11:00 for the business of the group and our presentations start at 11:30. A light lunch is served afterwards. Our dues are $15.00 per year.
Our focus every year is our Scholarship Fund. We collect monies all year and in May we award  a scholarship to an area senior who plans on entering the educational profession. Sometimes we have enough to award two of these scholarships.  Below is the flyer for the 2015-2016 year. Won't you come and join us?