Half Hollow Hills Active Retired Teachers
Webmaster: Betty Jayne Volpe, bjvolpe@optonline.net
Have you sent your New Year's message to the Regents?
NYSUT has and will continue to use every opportunity to push the Regents and other policymakers in Albany in the right direction. We can't do it alone. If you haven't done it, there's still time for you and your members to sign and send NYSUT's…
NYSUT's non-stop push to hold the Regents Board members accountable for their actions/inactions is starting to bear some fruit. This week the board approved its State Aid proposal, calling for a $1.3 billion increase, including increased investments in universal pre-K, $125 million more for profess…
Updated November 2013
The events of the past several months continue to strengthen our argument for a moratorium: a moratorium on the high stakes consequences of state standardized tests. This position allows us to remain committed to accountability, appropriate testing and the potential Common Core…
Public school classroom teachers should have received their 2012-13 composite scores and ratings by the end of the day on Sept. 3. Teacher Improvement Plans (TIPs), where required, must be provided within 10 school days after classes begin.
NYSUT is aggressively monitoring the delivery of scores, d…
The State Education Department has received 50 "Letters of Intent" for proposed charter schools. Of the 50, SED has accepted 28 and invited those entities to submit full applications by Sept. 18. They are in New York City (22), Buffalo, Oswego, Potsdam and Rochester. You can download the list as xl…
Affordable Care Act Will be a Boon for Early Retirees
The Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges, set to open this October, are expected to make health insurance less costly and easier to obtain for early retirees. Currently, many Americans who retire before 65 and are no longer insured through…
Trustees Reports: Social Security Steady, Medicare Financial Outlook Improved
The Social Security and Medicare Trustees issued their annual reports on the state of the two programs’ finances today. Social Security, according to its Trustees, has a $2.7 trillion surplus, enough to fully meet the deman…
Seniors Face Growing Credit Card Debt Crisis
According to two recent studies, seniors are facing an alarming, and growing, debt crisis. A report from AARP’s Public Policy institute and Demos, a research organization, compared the amount of credit card debt held by different age groups. The report fou…
The union hailed a unanimous appellate court ruling that affirms retired teachers have privacy rights that prevent their annual pensions from being published on websites and in newspapers.
"This is an important victory for our re…
The Affordable Care Act requires employers to report the cost of health insurance coverage on W-2 forms issued in 2013 for calendar year 2012. Please note that this is informational reporting only with the intent to make employees more informed consumers. This amount is not taxable. For furth…
Labor unions are preparing to challenge the devastating union-busting bill signed into law this week by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. The law, which affects public and private sector workers, takes effect in early April and does not change existing contracts. In other words, if a contract does not expi…
According to Politico, top officials who have been involved in the "fiscal cliff" talks for many months say the parameters of a deal — including the size of tax hikes and spending cuts it will most likely contain — are starting to take shape. Earlier this week, White House spokesman Jay Carney…
Congress is back in Washington this week and negotiations are under way right now to reduce the federal deficit. Retirees need to act now and in a loud voice to tell Congress not to balance the budget on the backs of retirees who have earned their guaranteed benefits after a lifetime of hard work.…
I just received this from the President of CORTLI.
Joan
Attention All.
I have some more information on the Changes to the Empire Plan for Public Employees,
especially for couples with Family Coverage for both. If one of those do not OPT OUT the plan will drop the coverage on the spouse with the longe…
NYSHIP Empire Plan Medicare Rx change Jan. 1
NYSHIP Empire Plan retirees who have Medicare as their primary insurance will automatically be enrolled in a Part D Medicare prescription plan on Jan. 1, 2013, unless they cancel coverage. The co-pays and list of covered prescriptions will be the same or b…
With September “Healthy Aging Month,” the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institute of Health, recommends patients over 50 talk to their eye doctors about yearly comprehensive dilated eye exams. Unlike a basic exam for glasses or contacts, a comprehensive dilated eye exam actually …
There is much at stake for people with Medicare in the presidential, senatorial, and congressional elections. The Medicare Rights Center developed the following Five Medicare Questions for Candidates to help current and future Medicare beneficiaries, their friends and their families learn more a…
We know there are a lot of concerns about SED's recent release of growth scores for teachers/principals with grades 4-8 math and ELA students. Some media outlets are incorrectly reporting that parents will have access to the growth scores, but this is NOT true.
Under the privacy bill passed in …
The NYSUT endorsements for the November elections are onNYSUT.org and will be printed in the September issue of NYSUT United. Here's the list of incumbents and challengerswho the union has determined will advocate for working familie…