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Dec 23, 2024
Ohio Education Association celebrates passage of bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act
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Ohio Education Association celebrates passage of bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act
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| [December 21, 2024] Ohio’s public school educators are among the hundreds of thousands of Ohioans who will finally receive the Social Security benefits they deserve. With overwhelming bipartisan support, the US Senate on Friday followed the lead of the US House and passed the Social Security Fairness Act. This long-awaited move repeals the Federal Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP) of the Social Security Act. It will ensure public servants like educators are no longer punished for their service. “Ohio’s public school educators dedicate their lives and careers to serving our students and creating a brighter future for everyone. But, for educators who came into the profession after working in the private sector, or for survivors depending on the hard-earned benefits earned by their spouses, GPO/WEP made it so they could not receive most of the Social Security benefits they had earned through years of paying into the Social Security system. That is unfair, and it is wrong. But now, our federal lawmakers have stood together to make things right,” said Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Scott DiMauro. “Ohio’s public school educators dedicate their lives and careers to serving our students and creating a brighter future for everyone. But, for educators who came into the profession after working in the private sector, or for survivors depending on the hard-earned benefits earned by their spouses, GPO/WEP made it so they could not receive most of the Social Security benefits they had earned through years of paying into the Social Security system. That is unfair, and it is wrong. But now, our federal lawmakers have stood together to make things right,” said Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Scott DiMauro. “On behalf of Ohio’s public school educators – past, present, and future – the Ohio Education Association is sincerely grateful to all 15 members of the US House and both Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance and Senator Sherrod Brown, who voted to repeal the punitive, outdated federal laws,” DiMauro said. “OEA is especially grateful to Sen. Brown for his unwavering determination to get his Social Security Fairness Act across the finish line so Ohio’s educators and other public servants can retire with dignity after decades of service in our state.” Ohio is one of about a dozen states where GPO/WEP has prevented public servants from receiving all of the Social Security benefits they’ve earned. Nearly 250,000 Ohioans will be affected by the repeal of those unfair laws. “For too long, the federal government has failed to provide the full Social Security benefits many public school educators earned. For too long, potentially great educators have chosen not to enter this profession because they would lose much of the Social Security benefits they had previously earned if they entered a life of public service. That changes now,” DiMauro said. The Social Security Fairness Act now goes to President Biden to be signed into law. |
| ABOUT OEA OEA represents nearly 120,000 teachers, faculty members, and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools. |
