Retired Teachers Celebrate 90 Years of Giving Back
The California Retired Teachers’ Association (CalRTA) has good reason to celebrate
Retired Teachers Week, November 3-9. This organization has been going strong since its beginnings and is now celebrating its 90th Anniversary! CalRTA was founded in 1929 (known then as CRTA ) through the efforts of Laura Settle, a retired Pasadena educator, with five or six people. Now the state organization numbers over 40,000 members!
Although retired from teaching, members of CalRTA stay vital and active. One major contribution they make is through volunteer service. Many go back to the classroom–not for pay but to volunteer their time and effort. According to the CalRTA State Communications and Technology Committee, this past year CalRTA members contributed almost 2 million hours of volunteer service to schools and to the community in general. That number translates to $57.8 million in services. Besides that, members donated $600,000 in grants to schools and scholarships to future teachers.
Of equal importance is that CalRTA members, like other public employees, give back to their communities and to the state economically through pension spending. According to the National Institute on Retirement Security in its Pensionomics 2018 report, California saw $73.7 billion in total economic benefit in 2016 from pension benefits paid out by state and local pension plans. Retirees contribute to the local economy by spending their pension benefit checks in their communities, so one persons’s spending becomes another person’s income.
Membership in the California Retired Teachers’ Association (CalRTA) is open to all retired educators, as well as to current educators and to any others interested in joining. For membership information, please call Marietta Watkins at (323) 258-9615.