Retired educators from around the Hill Country gathered last week to hear Tim Lee, executive director of the Texas Retired Teachers Association, discuss the organization’s legislative priorities for the 2027 session of the Texas Legislature, which convenes in Austin in January.

The Hill Country Retired School Employees Association, a local nonprofit affiliated with the Texas Retired Teachers Association in District 20, which serves retired educators in the Hill Country, sponsored the event. The well-attended brunch took place in Ryan Hall at First Presbyterian Church.

“I feel like I am among friends today. The more members we have the more power we have. We don’t have a PAC (political action committee) and we don’t write checks to politicians or endorse candidates,” Lee said, noting he has been involved with TRTA since 2004.

Lee said TRTA has chapters all over the state of Texas, but the organization faces the challenge of keeping people involved in the issues facing retired teachers in Texas.

“We currently have more than 250 retired teachers in Texas who are over 100 years old. We represent retirement security for 1.5 million retired school employees in the state. We are the organization protecting their retirement security,” Lee said. TRTA also represents other school employees, including teacher aides, office staff, cafeteria staff, bus drivers and other nonteaching support personnel.

Lee said membership in the organization has declined since its successful effort in support of the repeal of the WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision), a formula that reduced Social Security benefits for people who also received a government pension from a job where they did not pay Social Security taxes, specifically teachers, police and firefighters in Texas.

The law, called the Social Security Fairness Act, was signed into law in January 2025 but was made retroactive to 2024 and restored full benefits to those public system retirees. It also repealed the GPO (Government Pension Offset) and made teachers and others eligible for Social Security benefits from a spouse.

Lee said TRTA’s three legislative priorities for the 2027 Texas Legislature will be:

• Restoration of the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) to actuarial soundness;

• Meaningful benefit enhancement (a 13th month check or cost-of-living adjustment, known as a COLA);

• Additional funding for TRS-Care, which is the health insurance coverage for retired Texas school employees.

Restoring actuarial soundness to the Teacher Retirement System will require the Legislature to increase funding into TRS, which it did not do in 2025.

“HB2 salary increases for active employees in TRS in 2025 created $5 billion in unfunded liabilities, pushing the actuarial funding period to 35 years (previously was 28 years). We supported the teacher pay raises, but the Legislature did not fund the actuarial impact,” Lee explained.

Without the Legislature appropriating additional funds for the retirement system, the fund’s long-term viability is at risk, and permanent cost-of-living adjustments remain out of reach. When the system’s funding falls out of alignment, the TRS retiree pays through inflation.

On the topic of benefit enhancement, Lee said Texas education retirees manage their retirement security on very modest, fixed pensions, which inflation is quietly destroying.

“The 2023 enhancements (13th check) were a powerful statement of respect. On average, TRS retirees are 30 percent behind inflation. We must take another step forward. This legislative session needs to pass a state-funded stipend, COLA or 13th check. All options are on the table for decision makers in January,” Lee said.

The TRS-Care health insurance program currently has more than 215,000 retirees on the plan. Many retirees have insurance through their spouses, or have opted to leave the TRS-Care program after it changed to an advantage plan several years ago. Some health providers will not accept the TRS Advantage insurance.

“We are wondering if the Texas Legislature will stand up to their commitment to the retirement program and live up to their funding promises,” Lee said.

Lee also said lawmakers at the state level have discussed transitioning the teacher retirement system’s “defined benefit plan” to something that works more like a 401(k), but he said educators around the state have had no input on the idea.

“The teacher retirement system has not been actuarily sound since the Legislature gave teachers a pay raise in 2025, plus the school voucher program has impacted public education funding,” Lee said.

“The voucher program was sold to allow teachers to make more, which TRTA pointed out was a flaw, but no additional funding was provided. That’s the way it’s supposed to work, but last session, it was a $7 billion loss to TRS and moved it from being actuarily sound,” Lee stressed again.

Lee said the first goal in January will be increased funding for TRS.

“They created the problem. They should fix the problem. The state of Texas is rich. They have plenty of money. It’s a matter of priorities. The priority should be to ‘do no harm’ to the retirement system. It needs to be funded,” Lee said.

Lee said one of the biggest challenges for retirees is inflation.

“Inflation is the enemy. Most legislators don’t just like y’all, they love you, but they also fear you (at the ballot box). We are reasonable people. The only people who can help us are the 181 people in the Texas Legislature (150 members of the House and 31 senators).”

Lee encouraged the educators at the event to contact their representatives and senators to push for a COLA, 13th check and funding of the retirement system to restore actuarial solvency, plus additional funding for TRS-Care.

“Being an elected official should come with the responsibility to represent the interests of the people who elected you. It does not come down to the letter beside your name (R or D),” Lee said.

He also said the next legislative session may be a turning point for the TRS-Care system. Medical expenses once covered are no longer covered, especially in the area of rehabilitation costs for retired school employees, and Lee predicted more cuts to the health care system if the Legislature does not provide more funding.