July 24, 2017
EDCAL 3
a publication of acsa’s member services and
member assistance and legal support team | volume 36
Retirement Committee
tackling CalSTRS issues
“We might be called the Retirement
Committee, but our work serves educators
of all ages,” said Gayle Olson, Retirement
Committee chair.
The Retirement Committee is one of
ACSA’s 24 standing committees and coun-
cils whose leadership is critical to the impact
ACSA has on issues specific to a job-alike
or topic area. The most recent meeting
was attended by CalPERS and CalSTRS
representatives, including Karen Yamamoto,
a retired teacher who was just appointed
to the CalSTRS Board by Gov. Brown.
Yamamoto stated that her goal was to reach
out to retirees to keep them updated on
CalSTRS activities.
This comment provided a perfect segue
to committee members like Dave Davini
who stated his concerns around death ben-
efits remaining unchanged for too long.
“(The data) shows nearly 10,000 retired
teachers who are living below a viable wage
if they relied solely on their CalSTRS ben-
efits,” Davini said.
“Think about the poverty level of
$11,770 and the Medicaid eligible level of
$16,243 as well as the low income level for
one person being $17,820 in relationship to
our pensions. We do not want our former
dedicated teachers and administrators liv-
ing near the poverty level or at low income
levels.”
For many members on the committee,
the situation is alarming, because while
retirement systems are increasing payments
from active members and employers, they
believe the money is being used to unneces-
sarily subsidize CalSTRS facilities, person-
nel and other adminis