| Ballots were mailed to the superintendents of all Minnesota school districts to pass out to any of their teachers that taught in 1968-69 or who were on leave. (At that time TRA was unable to contact the teachers individually.) The ballot stated: �the election once made, is irrevocable.� It also stated: �Do not complete the information below unless you wish to change from the Improved Money Purchase Program (Item �A�) under which you are presently covered.� A teacher who wanted one of the other four plans had to return his/her ballot by June 30, 1972. Between 1965 and 1973, The Teachers Retirement Fund was invested primarily in debt retirements, and the interest rate credited to IMP accounts reflected that limited investment performance. After 1973, the TRA investment objectives shifted, with an increasing percentage of the portfolio dedicated to stock market investments. Pensions contributions from all teachers were collected in one fund and invested--these monies were not actually invested in five different programs. Upon retirement, TRA would calculate the amount in the teacher�s account and add an equal amount for the employer�s contribution. Then, depending on which plan the teacher had selected, the appropriate formula would be applied to the amount in the teacher�s account to determine his/her pension. In 1973, the legislature created The High 5 Formula Plan that based a teacher�s retirement benefits on his/her five highest, consecutive years of salary; this plan replaced the Career Average Formula Plan. At that time the IMP plan was doing very poorly. IMP teachers lobbied the legislature and a bill was passed that �mandatorily� transferred all IMP teachers into the new High 5 Formula Plan. But a �Savings Clause� was enacted (Minn Stat. S 355.54, Subd. 17) that allowed IMP members to choose to get pension benefits under the IMP Formula or under the �High Five� Formula Plan, whichever paid more. Also if they retired under the IMP plan, they could retire at age 55 or after 30 years of teaching. In 1974 the legislature changed the �irrevocable� choice for teachers that had chosen the combined IMP and Variable Program, Combined Formula and Variable Annuity Program or the Total Variable Annuity Programs. These members were transferred, without their consent, into a new combination program: � Variable Annuity and � High 5 Formula. There was no provision in this law that allowed these teachers upon retirement to choose between their original choice and any other retirement program. In 1978 the Minnesota legislature again changed the retirement plan for those teachers that had chosen the combined IMP and Variable Program, Combined Formula and Variable Annuity Program or the Total Variable Annuity Programs by prohibiting them from making future contributions to the funds that they had originally chosen. All future contributions were automatically invested in the general Teacher�s Retirement Fund under the High 5 Formula Program unless they submitted to TRA in writing that they wanted to continue their investments in the Variable Annuity Program. Even in 1978 TRA was not able to contact these teachers to facilitate communications with its membership and relied on school superintendents/administrators to inform the appropriate teachers. |
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