2024 IEA Representative Assembly, March 14th – 16th
Delegates: Keith Allen, Cheryl Baunbach-Caplan, Susan Purcell
There were many great speakers at the conference that gave credit to people working in many different capacities in education and helped to encourage and inspire the delegates in general for their good work in education.
Many important topics were discussed during the conference, and the IEA delegates were given an opportunity to speak for or against specific IEA governing policies.
After the arguments and counter arguments, the process was very fair and democratic,
and the delegates voted for or against each policy.
Overall, the meeting was conducted professionally and very effectively. It was encouraging to see that the delegates were able to take part in important decisions made by the governing officers of the IEA. Below are some important informational items from the RA.
State University Retirement System (SURS)
SURS is currently only 45.8% funded. The state must keep making contributions to fully fund.
- SURS has 249,572 members and 72,580 benefit recipients
- Approximately ½ of SURS active members are in Tier II
- Voting for SURS trustees begins 4/1 – May 1, 2024 (Vote for Randy Miller!)
- IEA Tier II
GPO/WEP
Motion passed to petition Congress to repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP)
- HR-82 is designed to eliminate the windfall provision. On Saturday, it was reported that there are now 308 co-sponsors in the House which should be enough to bring it to the floor for a vote.
Illinois Resolution 596- Treatment of Adjunct Faculty
Susan Sadlowski Garza, Chair of the Committee on Workforce Development, introduced a resolution on the fair treatment of adjunct faculty.
https://ieanea.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CCCLOC-Resolution-FINAL-10.07.20.pdf