NOVEMBER 2005 - Taught In Mass & Vermont - For some, public service is a life-long commitment that continues well into one's "retirement". Carol Stuart-Wenmark, a retired Wellesley teacher, is one such individual.

Being Involved

Upon retiring from Lunenburg, Wenmark also officially retired from Wellesley. When she left the town in 1977, she had deferred her retirement until she reached "retirement age".

Instead of passing the time by tending her flower and vegetable gardens, she sought a way to remain civically involved in the community. The outlet she found was to join and become involved in the Vermont Retired Teachers Association, which has a similar mission to our Association.

Quickly rising through the ranks, Wenmark served as VRTA president from 2000-2002 and was recently elected to a second stint as president for 2004-2006. She also had previously served as secretary of the association.

Vermont has just over 10,000 active and some 4,300 retired public school teachers. Recent reports site the pension system as having nearly $1.1 billion is assets.

In recent years, a major effort has been put forth by the VRTA to equalize their healthcare benefits with those of state retirees. The state contributes a flat dollar amount towards a retired teacher's insurance benefit, requiring the retiree to pay the remaining balance for their coverage.

State retirees are enrolled in a more robust plan, whereby the state contributes 80% of the insurance premium. COLAs under both systems are based on the CPI, capped at a maximum of 5%.

Impacted by WEP

Despite the fact that Vermont is a dual retirement state, having both a teacher's retirement plan along with Social Security, Carol Wenmark is still subjected to the dreaded Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).

In Wenmark's case, the WEP is triggered by the fact that she is drawing a pension from the Massachusetts, which is a non-Social Security state. Even though she worked for and left the state prior to the WEP law going into effect in 1985, she is impacted because she was not eligible to retire then.

Since Vermont's public employees do participate in Social Security, Wenmark was able to obtain well in excess of forty quarters under Social Security. However, even with 21 years of service in Vermont, she falls short of the thirty years of "substantial earnings" required to be exempt from the WEP law.

"When I first received the recruitment notice from the RSCMEA I was hesitant to join, only because I was already an active member in the Vermont Association. After looking into things a little further, it was obvious that it is also a group that I should be involved in," explained Wenmark. "It is very important that as retirees we support those lobbying on our behalf."