Heads of two state teacher and school employee groups sent a letter to Gov. Joe Manchin Wednesday asking him to extend the deadline for about 19,000 teachers in one retirement plan to decide whether to switch to another plan.
Heads of two state teacher and school employee groups sent a letter to Gov. Joe Manchin Wednesday asking him to extend the deadline for about 19,000 teachers in one retirement plan to decide whether to switch to another plan.
Judy Hale, president of the West Virginia Federation of Teachers, said the groups need additional time to counter confusion and misinformation about the transfer election.
"We wanted to impress upon the governor all the issues that are out there, which are why people are so hesitant and reluctant to go ahead," she said.
Her group and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association asked Manchin for a two-week extension on the May 12 deadline for Teachers Defined Contribution participants to decide whether to switch to the Teachers Retirement System.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said the governor had not had a chance to review the letter Wednesday, but said changing the deadline could only be done through a special session of the Legislature.
A minimum of 12,343 TDC participants - 65 percent - must submit forms by the deadline to transfer to the Teachers Retirement System for any transfers to occur.
As of Friday, only 1,530 transfer forms had been received by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board - about 8 percent of the 18,989 TDC participants eligible to transfer.
"If we had an additional two weeks, it would be a lot easier to reach the [65 percent] threshold," said Bob Brown, executive secretary of the School Service Personnel Association.
"This is really complicated if you're not a financial wizard to go through all this," Brown said of the decision whether to remain in the 401(k)-style investment plan or switch to the state-funded pension plan.
He said the decision has been complicated because more than 2,000 personalized statements sent out by the retirement board last week to TDC participants contained incorrect data.
Because of that, he said, people who received correct information about their retirement options may have doubts whether their figures are correct.
Heads of two state teacher and school employee groups sent a letter to Gov. Joe Manchin Wednesday asking him to extend the deadline for about 19,000 teachers in one retirement plan to decide whether to switch to another plan.
Judy Hale, president of the West Virginia Federation of Teachers, said the groups need additional time to counter confusion and misinformation about the transfer election.
"We wanted to impress upon the governor all the issues that are out there, which are why people are so hesitant and reluctant to go ahead," she said.
Her group and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association asked Manchin for a two-week extension on the May 12 deadline for Teachers Defined Contribution participants to decide whether to switch to the Teachers Retirement System.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said the governor had not had a chance to review the letter Wednesday, but said changing the deadline could only be done through a special session of the Legislature.
A minimum of 12,343 TDC participants - 65 percent - must submit forms by the deadline to transfer to the Teachers Retirement System for any transfers to occur.
As of Friday, only 1,530 transfer forms had been received by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board - about 8 percent of the 18,989 TDC participants eligible to transfer.
"If we had an additional two weeks, it would be a lot easier to reach the [65 percent] threshold," said Bob Brown, executive secretary of the School Service Personnel Association.
"This is really complicated if you're not a financial wizard to go through all this," Brown said of the decision whether to remain in the 401(k)-style investment plan or switch to the state-funded pension plan.
He said the decision has been complicated because more than 2,000 personalized statements sent out by the retirement board last week to TDC participants contained incorrect data.
Because of that, he said, people who received correct information about their retirement options may have doubts whether their figures are correct.
Brown said there has been other misinformation about the process - including rumors in parts of the state that Manchin would call a special session on the TDC/TRS transfer issue this week.
David Haney, executive director of the West Virginia Education Association, said the WVEA didn't sign the letter to Manchin, but would not oppose an extension.
"I certainly wouldn't have any problem with extending the election period for a period of time to help folks make a decision," he said. "We would encourage anything to assist people through this process and give people time to make a rational decision."
Anne Lambright, executive director of the CPRB, said pushing back the deadline would make it difficult for the agency to certify the election and complete the transfers by the July 1 date mandated in the law.
Lambright said she is not concerned with the 8 percent participation through Friday, noting that the process is designed to build up to a big push for transfer forms next week.
"I am not concerned yet," she said. "Next week, I might be concerned."
She said another factor accounting for the low participation figures could be that many teachers and school service personnel have submitted their transfer forms to their superiors - who could be waiting until the deadline to mail them to Charleston.
Under the law, principals and department heads have to send the forms to Charleston via certified mail no later than May 13. However, nothing in the law requires earlier, periodic mailings of the forms.
Hale said the associations realized they were facing a tight timeline from the moment the transfer legislation passed in March.
"We were concerned all along about the timeline," she said. "There's a lot of misunderstanding out there, and it's very complicated."
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