The Association of Retired Teachers of Connecticut (ARTC) is a non-profit organization of retired teachers representing 6,000 members/affiliates and advocate for 32,000 CT retired teachers.
ARTC:
- Promotes the economic, professional, and social well-being of Connecticut retired teachers.
- Encourages the participation of retirees in service to their communities.
- Advocates for the continuous improvement of education in Connecticut schools.
ARTC’s primary concerns center on the financial security of our pension and health insurance benefits. We also advocate for the preservation of Medicare. Our goals are to work towards:
- Maintaining our pension system.
- Securing full state funding of our health insurance premium account (HIPA).
- Eliminating the state income tax on teacher retirees’ pensions.
- Preserving the Social Security COLA by opposing the Chained CPI
- Repealing the GPO/WEP.
Connecticut teachers only receive a 25% tax break on their pensions, which was changed in June 2021. Click here to read the announcement from our Legislative Committee. 26% of retired teachers choose to move to other states upon retirement, states where their income is not heavily taxed. This is a money drain on the state of Connecticut.
Opposing the Chained CPI is important because any adverse effects to the SS COLA will affect us twofold. For most CT retired teachers, our pension COLA is based on the SS COLA, and therefore, any reduction in the SS COLA will reduce our pension.
Connecticut teachers contributed to their pension during their working years, and we fail to see why our pension is not considered a private pension but looked at as a SS retirement benefit. The GPO/WEP has turned into an unfair and regressive tax on thousands of municipal workers throughout the country. It is an unfair law that mainly discriminates against widowed women.
To read our full bylaws, click here.