TRTA would like to extend its sincerest gratitude to the education community for all of its hard work during the 2016 election cycle. From the primaries to yesterday’s election, retired and active educators worked tirelessly throughout the state to send informed voters to the polls and promote active participation in our democracy.
Thank you for spreading the word to family, friends and the education community at large, and for volunteering in countless ways to help other Americans vote. Most of all, thank you for getting out the vote.
Texas had a record number of voter registrations this year. Although not all the votes have been canvassed, almost 1 million more votes were cast in this presidential election than in 2012 according to the Secretary of State’s website. This is a point of pride we can all celebrate as Texans.
I encourage you to take a deep breath, a short rest and prepare yourself to switch gears as we ramp up towards the 85th Texas Legislature. The legislative session begins on the second Tuesday of January. However, your TRTA state and local legislative teams started their hard work months ago. They have been building relationships and forming teams to make serious change in the Capitol halls. In 2017, we will unite as Texans and as educators to protect TRS-Care and work towards Cost-of-Living-Adjustments.
Additionally, we will continue our work with the United States Congress to repeal and reform the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset. We have a lot to look forward to, and I am excited to work with our members and government employees to accomplish great things.
Again, thank you for continuing to care so much for the future of our state,
Tim Lee
Executive Director
Asociación de Maestros Jubilados de Texas
