The JETA Update
Your Health Benefit at Retirement
To continue insurance coverage at the time of your retirement you must elect to remain on the Cayuga/Onondaga Area School Employees' Healthcare Plan (COASEHP). If you do not continue your coverage at the time of your retirement or you terminate your coverage any time after retirement you will not be able to rejoin the Healthcare Plan.
If you do elect to continue your coverage at the time of your retirement, you will have the option to change between Plans (Traditional to Modified or Modified to Traditional) during the Annual Open Enrollment Period which is May through June with a July 1 effective date. You may also change from Single to Family or Family to single if you have a Change in Status Event listed in Appendix B of the Blue Booklet/Plan Summary.
Budget News (National, State, and Local)
This year, at the mid-year point we were preparing ourselves for cuts to education that were looming to be the largest that have been seen for quite some time. After averting the threat of mid-year cuts we found ourselves facing the governor's Deficit Reduction Act leaving us with the potential of serious gaps in funding. We were not alone as this was going on all across the state and country.
Our senior senator (Charles Schumer) took a lead role with President Obama in making The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the stimulus package) a reality. This will have brought an estimated $24.6 billion to New York State over the next two years. Of this, $2.5 billion is earmarked for education restorations; $940 million for Title I funding; $760 million in IDEA funding; and another $556 million is flexible relief. This money has served to fill gaps in state funding which allows us to keep people working. In return students are able to receive a better educational program. NYSUT played a crucial role in helping New York obtain its fair share and also played a key role in assuring that our state lawmakers used this money as it was attended.
Vote-Cope contributions allowed us to take the extra steps necessary to make this happen through lobbying in Washington and in Albany. Thanks to all of you for your participation, Jordan-Elbridge continues to be one of the lead locals in the area for total contributions. We will need to keep this up in the future as we still face many serious challenges.
09-10 Calendar Agreement
A late Labor Day this year puts pressure on the ability of the calendar to meet regulatory needs within what has been the typical configuration in the past. With several districts in the surrounding area deciding to return for the purposes of professional development before the Labor Day weekend we were approached with that same idea which lead to discussions as to how that would work here at Jordan-Elbridge.
While many districts adopted a similar calendar with little discussion, we did have extensive discussions weighing the pros and cons of such a change. Fitting the necessary days withing the typical framework of Labor Day through June was going to require school to be in attendance on certain days before holidays where we have not been in session in the recent past. We also would have had constraints with regards to the number of available emergency closing days within that type of calendar.
AFT Offers Tools 4 Teachers
For a number of years now, our affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has provided a portionof their web site to help teachers at all levels do their jobs. They've called it the "T-Scource". They've changed the name this years to Tools 4 Teachers and it still provides some excellent ideas and suggestions for beginning and experienced teachers at all levels. One new feature of the AFT web site is special lessons and ideas on the Inauguration: Tools 4 Teachers
