Jacquelyn Lefort

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. Three months after I retired, pension reform took place and we all lost our COLA, thus putting me on a fixed income unfortunately based on 2011 rates. Needless to say, inflation has taken a big chunk out of my pension. Our school district did not pay social security. Our COLA was supposed to be our "social security". Because of WEP and GPO, I cannot receive my ex-husband's social security which I would otherwise be entitled to. Like many of my peers, we are suffering from the loss of revenue we were promised when we took and faithfully did our jobs. Remember also that we paid 9.5% of each paycheck into our retirement. It was not a gift.

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