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TRS sued for violating legislative intent
A lawsuit has been filed against the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, stating that the TRS is violating legislative intent in its definitions of “professional staff” for the purposes of determining which employees are eligible for the pass-through health insurance supplement. The new definitions resulted in excluding nonadministrative professional employees earning more than $50,000 from receiving the supplement.
TCTA previously informed members of our concerns about the TRS rules, and we testified against the definitions during the board meeting at which the new rules were adopted.
The suit was filed Aug. 21 by the Texas Federation of Teachers. Interestingly, the basis of the TFT lawsuit is legislative intent that was established at TCTA’s request by Rep. Jim McReynolds (D-Lufkin). Near the end of the session, when the bill changing the supplement was under discussion, TCTA approached McReynolds and asked him to clarify on the House floor that all nonadministrative professional employees, specifically including teachers, counselors, nurses, librarians, educational diagnosticians and speech pathologists, would receive the supplement.
While TCTA opposed the new definitions, one major concern is that, according to TRS staff, if the higher-paid employees were allowed to receive the supplement, the already-inadequate funds would result in a further reduction of the amount of the supplement (which was lowered from $500 to approximately $475 because of an insufficient appropriation by the Legislature).
TCTA will monitor action on this lawsuit and keep members informed of any major developments.
