A retiree writes to Dennis Leone re: The 'no spike' rule

To: Dennis Leone, March 14, 2007
Subject: You are right on the "no spike" rule

Dear Dr. Leone,

My brother-in-law, [xxx], who has followed your STRS activities closely for some time and drove to [xxx] from [xxx] to hear you speak to the [xxx] County Retired Teachers a few years ago, forwarded to me an e-mail regarding your remarks in [xxx] about the "no spike" rule.

I'm sorry you were "hurt" by your principled stand on this issue, but you are right. It makes no sense for someone to get large salary boosts during their last three years of teaching in order to spike their retirement when they have not been contributing to the system at that rate all along. The OEA has been very short-sighted about this. In 19[xx], [xxx] district, where I taught, was goaded into a strike by the OEA urging (among other things) a salary schedule that stayed relatively flat for several years and then spiked in the last three years. I argued then that such a plan would eventually bankrupt the retirement system, but no one seemed to see the logic of that.

Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,
[xxx]