Merging the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana and the Louisiana School Employees Retirement System is a bad idea!

Tell your Representative to vote "NO" on HB 60.

The House Retirement Committee has approved HB approved HB 60 by Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) which would require the merger of the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana and the Louisiana School Employees Retirement System. Please urge your Representative to vote against HB 60 when it is heard on the House floor.

Members of the School Employees Retirement System have distinct interests that have been well-represented by LSERS since the 1940s. The 25,000 members of the system deserve an independent system geared to ensuring a decent retirement for valued members of the education family. These are the workers who get our children to school safely and on time, maintain clean, safe learning environments and provide other invaluable services for our schools.

The Teachers Retirement System, with its 89,000 members, is itself a well-managed retirement plan that oversees the needs of teachers, higher education faculty and some other education employees. As with LSRS, members of TSRL are satisfied with the service provided by their system.

Currently, both systems work well, provide better retirement security than the private market and have earned the confidence of their members.

The risky merger would abolish LSERS and transfer all its property, rights, obligations and employees into the Teachers’ system. In the process, 30 employees would lose their jobs within a year. That greatly increases the work load on remaining staff, and could cause a reduction in services for the members of the merged systems.

This bill is yet another example of legislative meddling with systems that are working well and serving their purposes, driven more by ideology than by serving the needs of the public. The potential savings from firing 30 more public servants does not justify gambling on reduced services for retired teachers and school employees.

Please send a message to your Representative, saying that you do not believe HB 60 is right for retired teachers and school employees.