President Steve Eichman and past-president John Osterloth attended the WREA State Convention held in Madison on September 23rd and 24th. Many varied sessions were attended by the two BCREA members.
The opening address was made by Julie Underwood, Dean of Education at UW-Madison. Her topic was: Support Public Education. She presented many facts and figures to show how Wisconsin public education is currently doing and how the satistics show that the current climate in Madison government is hurting public education.
The next topic presented was that of Badger Honor Flights. The presentor was unable to attend, but Clayton Chipman, a World War II vet who was flown to Washington DC with his grandson by Badger Honor Flights spoke of his experiences. Those attending the convention were able to choose from many various topics including: Legislative session; Greater Power of Source; Myths and Facts about Depression and Aging; Know Legislators at the Grassroots Level; WREA Membership Training; Working with your Local Schools to Support Public Education; Cooking with Social Media; Man vs Mouse; and Rural with and Wisdom.
There were also speakers for the two luncheons and the banquet. Wisconsin teachers of the year for 2013 and 2014 spoke to the group and Bo Ryan, Wisconsin Men's Basketball Coach spoke at Wednesday luncheon.
The last presentation was from Michael Williamson, Executive Director State of Wis. Investment Board(SWIB) and Bob Conlin, Secretary Department of Employee Trust Fund(ETF). They spoke about the pension system, investments, and how the system is currently going. Wisconsin pension system is 99.9% funded. This is far better than most pension systems throughout the nation. No one can predict the rest of the year, but possible senerios were presented.
Over all, those who attended were given a lot of information.
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| Julie Underwood |
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| Clayton Chipman |
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| Bo Ryan |
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| John Osterloth and Steve Eichman |
