Leadership Matters - March 2013

Leadership Week through the eyes of a member I hope those of you who were able to attend Leadership Week found it to be as valuable as I did. For those of you who were not able to make it, I wanted to share some highlights with you. State’s financial and pension crisis schedule was established that is impossible for our state to pay back — and the legislators knew that when it was passed. They truly “kicked the can” Dr. John Draper tears apart public education myths during his presentation that drew a standing ovation.

to us and now the state must face the consequences. The really important fact that Martire’s presentation made very clear is that we can eliminate the pension crisis by re-amortizing (restructuring) our debt. It won’t be a quick fix, but as he pointed out, it took us many, many years to get into this mess. Restructuring our debt over 45 years will fix our problem. It actually saves the State billions of dollars over the current repayment schedule. Additionally, Martire can show that reducing our benefits will not save TRS. Again, the rhetoric that reduction in retiree benefits is the solution is purely another sound bite for the private sector and re- election bids. If the restructuring Martire talks about was done, there would be no need for the cost shift. Again, please take an hour and look at his presentation. It will be worth your time – and it is what we need to be sharing with our legislators. (Continued on page 11)

I recommend taking a look at Ralph Martire’s presentation ( PDF document or complete video ). While I thought I understood Martire’s position

Chad Allison Superintendent Litchfield District 12

and data regarding the state’s financial crisis, I was almost embarrassed by what I didn’t know, and truly enlightened by the data Martire presented. It was amazing to see how easy it was to understand. As Dr. Clark stated in his introduction, “Ralph Martire is going to show you in 60 minutes how we can solve the pension crisis.” It was true, and really made me wonder why this plan isn’t being considered more strongly as a true solution. Help us spread the word! The basic concept regarding the pension crisis is simple. We have the problem because the state borrowed from the system to pay other obligations. We have had a structural deficit in place for many, many years. As a result, a repayment

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