OAPSE has received a lot of questions regarding recent changes to the School Employees Retirement System of Ohio (SERS). We want to make sure all OAPSE members covered under SERS have the most up to date information, so you are not blindsided when it comes time to retire.

This summer, the Ohio Legislature passed a bill that gives SERS the power to use a calculation to stop school employees from pension spiking and putting a strain on your pension system. This calculation, the Contribution based Benefit Cap (CBBC), is a tool SERS will start using in 2024 to identify and prevent pension spiking or benefit inflation.

This CBBC calculation is not changing your pension benefit calculation. Pension benefits will continue to be calculated by your final average salary (highest 3 years averaged) and years of service (2.2% for each year of service).

OAPSE has been working with the SERS Board of Trustees to make sure employees who receive raises and promotions throughout their career will not be adversely affected. The SERS Board is made up of 9 members, 8 of whom are either active SERS members or SERS retirees themselves. 3 members of the SERS Board, Jim Haller, Barb Phillips, and Aimee Russell are also active OAPSE members, and 2 members of the SERS Board, Cathie Moss, and Frank Weglarz, are OAPSE retirees.

The CBBC calculation will only be used to identify SERS members going into retirement with a pension benefit much greater than the contributions they put into SERS. In a test run by SERS with 2023 retirees, less than 1% of retirements were flagged by the CBBC calculation. This means over 99% of SERS members will NOT be affected by the CBBC calculation. The small number of cases where the CBBC flagged a retiree were extreme. Most examples were school employees who doubled or even tripled their salaries a few years before retirement.

To help inform all SERS members, the SERS website has a dedicated page to explain the CBBC calculation: https://www.ohsers.org/cbbc-explained/

SERS will also be adding a calculator feature, so members can see where they stand regarding this change to the retirement system.

OAPSE will continue to monitor the SERS Board and any future changes SERS considers. OAPSE will continue to fight for our members, so they receive the pension they were promised and the retirement they deserve!

After a tragic fatal accident early this school year, Governor DeWine formed a School Bus Safety Working Group to study student transportation and shape recommendations to improve safety. On October 12, that group met and OAPSE was there.

Lois Carson, OAPSE State President, and the members of the Transportation Safety Committee that she formed attended the meeting and delivered a statement to Governor DeWine’s Working Group on behalf of our union’s members statewide. (The full OAPSE statement can be found at the link below.)

OAPSE’s Transportation Safety Committee, chaired by OAPSE State Vice President Mike Lang, has been meeting since the Governor’s initial action and drafted their statement based on the concerns OAPSE members share on the issue of bus safety.

Transportation Committee Members pictured around the table (starting top left): Lois Carson, Randy Weston, Mike Lang, John Sindeldecker, Joe Rugola, Stephanie Wiley, Bev Payne. (Kathy Chamberlain not pictured)

When Governor DeWine formed his Working Group, he appointed one bus driver to the 15 member committee – OAPSE Northeast District President, and long-time bus driver, Davida Russell. Davida has attended all of the Working Group meetings and has helped shape the discussion on school bus safety.

“I am honored that Governor DeWine selected me to serve as a member of the Working Group studying school transportation safety.” Russell said. “I will be contributing the school bus driver viewpoint about the critical issues being studied and will advocate for the interests of bus drivers in the committee discussions.”

OAPSE Director of Political Action and Legislative Affairs, Randy Weston, has been attending the meetings and our union will continue to monitor the Governor’s Working Group. We will also continue to update OAPSE members as the Working Group moves towards recommendations later this year.

https://oapse.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/OAPSE-Statement-to-Gov.-School-Bus-Safety-Task-Force-10.11.2023-1.pdf

As OAPSE members are aware, there was a fatal crash involving a school bus three weeks ago. Since then, school bus safety has been a major topic for Governor DeWine and officials across the state. Governor DeWine has since created the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group, a 13-member group tasked with examining school transportation safety and then possibly making recommendations to the Governor and the State legislature.

The School Bus Safety Group met for the first time this week and will continue to meet regularly before the end of the year. Joe Rugola, OAPSE’s Executive Director, will be presenting to this group in a future meeting to make sure OAPSE members’ interests are heard and included in the overall discussion.

OAPSE’s State President, Lois Carson, will be forming an OAPSE Transportation Safety Committee that will consist of members with student transportation experience. This Committee will be chaired by State Vice President Mike Lang, who also serves as Chair of OAPSE’s School Safety Committee. Other members on OAPSE’s Transportation Safety Committee will be Bev Payne from Crestline Exempted Village Schools, Stephanie Wiley from Columbus City Schools, John Sindeldecker from Buckeye Local Schools, Kathy Chamberlain from Preble-Shawnee Local Schools, and OAPSE Executive Director Joe Rugola. President Carson will also serve on the committee. The committee will be staffed by Political and Legislative Director Randy Weston. He will be covering the State’s working group meetings and reviewing any information put out by Governor DeWine or the School Bus Safety Working Group to make sure OAPSE members are kept up to date as these discussions move forward.

As many of you know, most federal student loan borrowers have had their payments paused since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 emergency. This student loan relief has come to an end and will not be extended. The accrual of interest on federal student loans resumed on September 1, 2023, and loan payments will become due in October 2023.

We know that many of you, as well as members of your family, are student loan borrowers. We also know that the transition back to paying student loans may be challenging or confusing for some.

If you are a student loan borrower, here are 6 ways you can prepare:

1. Update your contact information with your loan servicer and at StudentAid.gov.

2. Review information about your next payment. This information can be found on your billing statement or by contacting your loan servicer.

3. Use the Federal Student Aid Loan Simulator to make sure you are on the best repayment plan, especially if your financial situation has changed.

4. Consider applying for, or switching to a new, income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. An IDR plan can make your monthly payment more affordable. Borrowers who consistently make monthly payments may see their debt forgiven after a certain number of years. The Biden administration recently announced as new IDR plan – Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) – that will help more than 20 million American borrowers.

5. If you cannot afford a repayment plan right now, contact your loan servicer to discuss short term relief options, such as deferment or forbearance. Make certain you understand how these options may affect your loan, loan payments and eligibility for loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and IDR plans.

6. Understand what may happen if you don’t repay your loan. While delinquent payments can have a negative impact on your finances, the Biden administration has instituted a 12-month “on-ramp” period – October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024 – to reduce the impact on borrowers who are not able to resume their loan payments immediately. During this period, borrowers will not be considered delinquent, be reported to the credit bureaus, placed in default, or referred to debt collection agencies. However, borrowers should be aware that delinquent loan payments will continue to accrue interest and may impact when you qualify for loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program or an IDR plan.

Our union wants to make sure you have the resources you need to successfully restart your loan payments. Visit AFSCME’s Student Debt Resources for additional and updated information, including information about the new SAVE plan and the 12-month repayment “on-ramp” period.