RH Jones: A message for your state representative

RH Jones to John Curry, April 1, 2008
Subject: Re: Want to see how OPERS treats their retirees?

John and all:

Please forward the message below to your favorite state rep:

A fellow retired STRS member, K. Fluke, PhD, asked me to mention the following; "All Ohio citizens, including retired educators, pay into PERS. Politicians and our STRS employees receive their health care (HC) from PERS. And, did you readers know that PERS pays 100% ofMedicare part "B" while retired teachers only get a fraction? House Bill 315 will help close this gap and even the playing field."

I, R. H. Jones, can not help but feel that the Ohio's political state representatives, will do the right thing and move H.B. 315 out of the FIRES committee and vote it into law - very soon. The Ohio public, most certainly, hold that their teachers are as valuable as the politicians themselves, the STRS employees, and all the other Ohio government employees.

In both writing and orally, we were promised by our employer, the Ohio Public Schools, through their Akron School Districts, and our STRS, that we would have paid HC in our retirement. Had I not been given this promise, at a greater expense to the state and to the Akron School District, I certainly would have taught many, many years longer. Would that have been good for the state, the city, the children, or me? I do not think so.

RHJones, a retired teacher member of STRS