Record of Testimony

I am writing in support of restoring the teacher's COLA at 2011 rates. When I planned my retirement, it was with the COLA being in place. Last year my COLA was.....$350 for the year! This is unacceptable.

I am writing for return of our COLAs. I am a speech-language pathologist who worked in the Providence Public Schools for 37 years. I retired with my pension and organized my budget and financial outlook based upon my pension and my expected COLA.

I served as an administrator in RI for many years. ( Housemaster Lincoln Jr. Sr HS 1980- 1987; Principal Ponagansett Middle School 1987-1999, Director of School Improvement West Warwick School System 1999-2004; then as a lecturer at URI from 2004-2005.

I taught in Central Falls for 31+ years before retiring in July of 2011. At that time, I felt forced into retirement due to the city of Central Falls going into bankruptcy and the state proposing a very extreme pension reform.

My story:  I retired as a guidance counselor at East Greenwich HS in 2000.  Things were going well (treading water) until my husband passed in 2020.  I cannot get any of his Social Security  pay because of the offset-provision.  BUT, I can have access to

As a 28 year employee of a RI Public School System, I contributed a great deal of my earnings to this retirement system.

I had to relocate because of my low pension. I actually had to create my own COLA RI was to expensive so moving to a place less expensive was my only option. We need the COLA to be reinstated ASAP.Thank u

Submitted via online webform

To: Members of the Pension Advisory Working Group

I realize most of the people in attendance at the Pension Advisory meeting have heard what I am about to tell you before I will try to be brief and to the point.

Rhode Island political corruption at its worst—this describes the Pension Security Act introduced by the General Assembly in 2011, and enacted on January 21 2012.

Let me list the pertinent facts: