1. Up to the Minute: Washington Update Mary Kusler National Education Association March 6, 2015

2. 114th Congress 5444 245188 SENATE HOUSE 2 independents 2 vacancies RepublicansDemocrats

3. NEA Roadmap for ESEA

4. NEA POLICY: Core Goals Create a new generation accountability system that includes an opportunity dashboard Give students more time to learn by reducing the number of federally-mandated tests Decouple high-stakes testing and accountability Ensure qualified educators and empower them to lead

5. 2007: Significant effort derailed by NEA and others 2011/2013: Bills passed out of Senate HELP Committee 2013: NEA-opposed bill passed by House Feb 2015: House passes HR 5 in Committee. March 2015: House considers HR 5 Where are we?

6. Short Timeline EARLY FEBRUARY House markup LATE FEBRUARY MARCH House floor APRIL Senate markup Senate floor

7. House: Student Success Act (H.R. 5) First passed in July 2013 – all Democrats and a few Republicans voted no. NEA opposes the bill because it: o Consolidates programs, walks back equity o Does not protect the educator’s voice in decision-making o Inadequate funding o Continues to require annual testing in grades 3-8 o Authorizes Title 1 portability

8. House: Student Success Act (H.R. 5) House considered HR 5 the last week in February All 5 of NEA’s priority amendments passed – Allowance for local assessments – Audits of current assessments to look for redundancy – Parental notification of opt out policies – Restoration of collective bargaining protections – Restoration of paraeducator qualifications The House bill was pulled from consideration due to lack of votes and potential shutdown of DHS. It is expected to be re-considered this month.

9. Senate ESEA Bill A Work in Progress

10. NEA Members Testify Before Congress Michael Towne Physics and engineering teacher February 4, 2015 Jennie Beltramini Fifth-grade teacher and math coach February 11, 2015 Rachelle Moore First-grade teacher and mentor January 27, 2015

11. Retirement Security

12. Types of Pension Plans DEFINED BENEFIT Vast majority of public employees, including educators Specified benefit based on formula – age, length of service, salary Employer assumes investment risk and reward DEFINED CONTRIBUTION Vast majority of private sector employees No guarantees Benefit varies with investment returns Employee assumes investment risk and reward

13. Public Sector Different world than the private sector – defined benefit plans cover nearly 80% of state and local government workers, most federal workers SOURCE: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

14. Private Sector Defined benefit plans are fading away — cover 18% of workers today compared to 35% in the early 1990s SOURCE: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

15. Social Security

16. Raise full retirement age (currently 66, gradually rises to 67 for people born in 1960 and later) Recalculate COLAs — e.g., on average annual COLA would be 0.3 points with chained CPI Raise Social Security payroll tax cap — earnings over $117,000 will be untaxed in 2014 (up from $113,700 in 2013) Reduce benefits for high earners Make Social Security mandatory for newly hired state and local government workers Potential Changes

17. Government Pension Offset (GPO) Affects nearly 500,000 nationwide — public employees who have not paid into Social Security, but their spouses have Expect benefits based on spouse’s earnings What they get is reduced benefits — if any Mostly women, many low-income, many ESPs Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Affects nearly 1 million nationwide — reduces EARNED benefits for people with public pensions Affects benefits based on earnings in prior career, non-offset state, part-time and summer jobs GPO & WEP

18. Legislative Options…. Full GPO/ WEP Repeal HR 973 introduced by Reps. Rodney Davis (R- IL) and Adam Schiff (D- CA) — 73 co-sponsors No Senate bill yet but it is close – Sens. Collins, Heller and Brown Bipartisan support Full WEP Repeal HR 711 introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady(R- TX)— 10 co-sponsors Would repeal WEP and put in place a new formula. GPO is not addressed. Paid for partially by allowing GPO to be enacted.

19. Why is it taking so long? Would cost more than $80 billion over 10 years Philosophical disagreements Some want to wait for complete Social Security overhaul

20. One more thing We have a brief window to act… Collect and share stories of how NCLB has been limiting opportunities for children Find new ways to engage your communities Members of Congress need to hear the voices of educators We have to keep the pressure on.