Last spring, the State Legislature introduced a bill to eliminate IRMAA (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount) benefits.

My Fellow Members, This week NJREA’s membership surpassed 23,000 members, an increase of 604 members.

The valuation reports for the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) and the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF) were released in March.

All current active pension system members can view their pension accounts and other important information through the web-based MBOS account.

Every spring, NJREA members receive a letter asking them to contribute to PAC, the legal political avenue that allows NJEA to participate in campaigns and elections.

To support the NJREA initiative of recruiting more members to join the union, the NJREA 2026-2027 budget will reflect that commitment by including more money for membership promotion.

The NJREA Executive Committee along with NJEA Deputy Executive Director Denise Graff Policastro and NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Tina Dare traveled from freezing cold New Jersey to an unprecedented heatwave in Phoenix, Arizona, to present at the NEA-Retired Conference: Resilience, Respect, Power, Saving Public Education and Our Democracy. 

For many of us, the decision to join the union during our first years in the classroom, office, bus or building was driven by a need for immediate stability. Membership protects our  past, present and future.

After years of bipartisan state legislatures ignoring their financial obligations to fund New Jersey’s public employee pension system, the problems finally hit a breaking point when in June of 2011, Governor Christie signed Chapter 78, P.L. 2011, the Pension and Health Benefit Reform Law, which increased worker pension contributions, raised the retirement age and suspended the future cost-of-living-adjustments (COLA) for retirees across all state retirement systems until the funds achieve an 80 percent funding level.

Pastel colors and warm sunshine surrounded NJREA members as they attended the 2026 NJREA Spring Luncheon at the Masonic Fellowship Center in Burlington County.