APRIL 4, 2007 UPDATE

Dear Colleagues,                                                                 

 I’ve returned to Louisville and wanted to forward this to you.  I did receive a letter from Representative Brent Yonts, who shared that the state initiative was passed in Frankfort … which was to send a letter to the U.S. Congress asking them to repeal the GPO/WEP as it was affecting our educators in Kentucky.  I’m not sure how this will affect our two senators who have not signed on, but it can’t hurt. I hope all of you are well.  Please contact me by email or on my cell at 502.594.3884.  We will have a booth set up at the KEA-Delegate Assembly next week, so if you are at the Executive West or have folks coming to the DA from your district, please ask them to stop by to pick up materials from NEA and KEA.  As always, we appreciate all you do for the Association and others.       Rhonda

From: <CLewis@nea.org>
Date: 2007/03/19 Mon PM 03:05:15 EST
Subject: Message from Reg Weaver and John Wilson on GPO/WEP Activities
 
 Memorandum
 TO:
 GPO/WEP Activists
 FROM:
 Reg Weaver
 John Wilson
  RE:
 GPO/WEP Legislative Activities
 
 Thank you all very much for the excellent work you have done and
 continue to do in the fight to repeal the Government Pension Offset
 (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).  Many of you have been
 asking us how our campaign to repeal the offsets will proceed in the
 coming months and what the next steps are that you can take to move us
 toward our goal.  We would like to take this opportunity to give you
 some information about NEA’s current priorities and how the GPO/WEP
 efforts fit into our agenda.
 
 As you may know, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), most
 recently reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act, is up for
 reauthorization this year.  Advancing NEA’s Positive Agenda for the ESEA
 Reauthorization to address the many concerns about the law’s impact on
 educators and the students they serve is now our top legislative
 priority.  We have reorganized our staff into an ESEA Campaign with
 lobbying, grassroots, and media components.  Many of our lobbyists, as
 well as grassroots, field, and policy staff, will be spending most, if
 not all, of their time on this ESEA Campaign. 
 
 We will also be focusing our grassroots activities on the ESEA Campaign.
 Because we do not want to confuse our message, we do not anticipate
 holding lobby days or grassroots calls to action on other issues,
 including GPO/WEP, in the near future.  We will continue, however, to
 send out our weekly cyber alerts on any education-related issues moving
 in Congress and needing immediate attention.
 
 Our focus on ESEA reauthorization does not in any way diminish our
 efforts to repeal GPO/WEP.  Much of our work on the issue will proceed
 uninterrupted.  For example:
 
 *  NEA lobbyist Al Campos will continue to lobby Congress to move
 the Social Security Fairness Act forward for debate and vote.
 
 *  We will continue to look for and take advantage of every
 opportunity to push the GPO/WEP message in every available forum and on
 every potential legislative vehicle.  For example, NEA has been invited
 to testify this week before the Senate Finance Committee (which has
 jurisdiction over Social Security as well as tax policy and other
 financial issues).  The focus of the hearing is on ways in which that
 particular committee can help strengthen public education.  Repeal of
 the GPO and WEP will feature prominently in NEA’s testimony. 
 
 *  Our grassroots cadre will continue their work in the states to
 build grassroots support for repeal.  Each cadre team will continue to
 receive funding for their work.
 
 *  We will continue to send out periodic updates on the progress
 of the Social Security Fairness Act, including the latest cosponsors. 
  
 *  Our website will continue to feature advocacy tools and the
 latest news on the fight for repeal and will continue to allow activists
 to e-mail Members of Congress on this issue. 
 
 *  We will continue to collect stories of impacted individuals for
 use with Congress and the media.
 
 * We will continue our work with the Coalition to Assure
 Retirement Equity, which includes organizations representing police,
 firefighters, federal employees, and other impacted populations.  
  
 We hope this information helps clarify NEA’s work on GPO/WEP in the
 context of our focus on ESEA reauthorization.  If you have any
 questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. 
 
 *******************************************************************
 Only the individual sender is responsible for the content of the
 message, and the message does not necessarily reflect the position
or policy of the National Education Association or its affiliates.