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GROWING LEADERS
Ben Dickerson
Region 10 Program Coordinator Supervision & Leadership Development
THE REGION 10 Executive Education Preparation Program has been instrumental in my professional growth by giving me practiced-based experiences aligned to competency-based leadership skills.
Along with Texas A&M University Commerce graduate classes, this program has allowed me to practice the skills necessary to become an effective superintendent in both my current role and with districts across Region 10.
This unique blend of traditional coursework along with realworld field experience has given me deep knowledge of the different roles within district leadership and their importance in relation to the superintendency. In addition, my cohort has become a very close group and I know that we will stay connected and support one another for years to come as we take the next step in our leadership journey. T HE EXECUTIVE Education Preparation Program here at Region 10 ESC has been a wonderful experience and has allowed me to grow in my pursuit of becoming a superintendent of a school district in our region. The academic classes at Texas A&M-Commerce have also assisted me in my daily job duties here at Region 10 ESC. The connection to both the education service center and the school district worlds is one of the best components of the program and its objectives.
We have had the opportunity to collaborate with many districts in Region 10 to complete several projects that were successfully implemented in school districts. One of my favorite projects was collaborating with a superintendent in the creation of a school budget. This opportunity allowed me to better understand the entire process and its effect on student achievement.
Michael Gipson
Region 10 Assistant Director Teaching & Learning
This program has allowed me to grow professionally and personally to better serve our schools and communities. I feel the connections that I have made with the other cohort members will last a lifetime. The support of Region 10 and its partnership with Texas A&M University-Commerce has been invaluable and I would definitely recommend this program to those interested in pursuing an executive leadership position.
Encouragement & Incentives
HOW REGION 10 ESC GOT 97% OF ITS EMPLOYEES TO SAVE FOR RETIREMENT
By Dr. Gordon Taylor, Region 10 ESC Executive Director
NUMBERS DON’T LIE, but sometimes no one is looking at the numbers. Region 10 Education Service Center found that to be true in the spring of 2022 when it discovered some interesting data about itself. One of the core principles of Region 10 is taking great care of employees, and it focuses supporting its people in every way possible. Inadvertently, a hole had developed in that support that data eventually exposed. Region 10 was only passively helping employees plan for their futures. The staff were not saving and investing for their own retirement the way they should. After seeing the data, the Board of Directors took quick action on recommendations from Region 10 leadership.
At its April 2022 meeting, the Board approved two plans to prompt change in employees’ retirement investment planning. The first action was to encourage staff members to save for their own retirement by establishing the Region 10 Retirement Savings Plan (RSP) and then they incentivized staff by creating the Region 10 Retirement Matching Plan (RMP). Creating the dual approach of encouraging and incentivizing proved critical in achieving a simple goal: increase the number of employees saving and investing for retirement.
THE PROBLEM DATA
What were the numbers that indicated the need for action? Some were national data and others were Region 10 specific. The report from the annual Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute includes the following information from survey respondents: • 34% say they have less than $25,000 in savings or investments • 19% indicated having less than $1,000 saved • 23% say they are not confident they will be able to live comfortably in retirement • Only 14% of workers without a retirement plan (not
Social Security or a pension) are currently saving for retirement compared to 78% of workers that do have a retirement plan.
The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) conducted a study of retirement accounts for individuals ages 50-65, which showed that women’s account balances averaged approximately 50% of men’s account balances. Since 84% of all Region 10 employees are female, this data was particularly important.
The data specifically for Region 10 was not particularly positive either. Everyone at Region 10 is part of the Texas Teacher Retirement System (TRS), but for most employees a TRS pension will only replace 65-75% of their pre-retirement income. To make up for the 25-35% income reduction, employees need to supplement their TRS pension from another source. Region 10 employees, like most Texas educators, will not be eligible for a Social Security benefit or eligible for only a substantially reduced benefit. As a result, employees will need personal savings and investments to make up the difference.
Based on March 2022 payroll data, only a third (145 of 444) of Region 10 employees were participating in the voluntary 457b and 403b plans available to them. That number was even more discouraging considering 19 of the 145 were contributing less than 1% of their annual pay (see chart #1). This was the setting for the adoption of the Region 10 RSP and RMP.
CHART #1
Participation in Voluntary
Retirement Savings Options 23%
Staff were contributing to the RAMS 457b plan.
Employees were contributing to a 403b plan account.
Only 102 of our 444 full-time and regular part-time employees.
43
A 403b account is similar to a 457b but has significant differences in investments and withdrawal rules.
TOTAL PARTICIPATION 32.6% 145 of our 444 employee were participating
19 of those participating were contributing less than 1% of their annual pay
CHART #2 Monthly Effect on Take-Home Pay
THE SOLUTION
Access to retirement investing through 403(b) and 457(b) plans have been available to Region 10 employees for many years. Having access and choosing to use that access is different, so the approach taken to design the savings and matching plans had to overcome the inertia of the situation by encouraging and incentivizing. The encouragement takes the form of automatic enrollment in the RSP with an opt-out clause. Starting July 1st every current employee was automatically enrolled in the 457(b) plan adopted by Region 10 at a rate of 1% of the employee’s annualized salary/ pay. New employees are automatically enrolled during orientation. Any employee may choose to opt-out of the plan, but few have taken that option.
The incentive in these plans is a matching plan sponsored by Region 10. Matching plans are an accepted part of the corporate environment in the United States but are very rare in the education and non-profit realms. Nearly everyone has heard of the 401(k) plan in for-profit industries; the Region 10 RMP, adopted in April, uses rules in a different sub-section of the same law, section 401(a).
The plan guarantees that every employee who saves at least 1% of his/her annual salary/pay in the RSP or a 403(b) will receive a 1% match into their RMP account.
There is also a provision in the plan that allows the Board to provide a matching amount greater than 1% based on the financial health of the Center.
EDUCATING THE EDUCATORS
The leadership of Region 10 felt that successful implementation of the RSP and RMP would only happen if enough time was taken to help employees understand what the plans can do for them. Every employee had to attend an information meeting during the month of June where the plans were explained. Chart #2 shows one graphic that was used to help employees how the annual Board approved raise, the RSP, and RMP would work together.
The Center also encouraged employees to meet with a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). The CFP were provided at no cost to employees along with a larger library of online resources and videos specifically built for Texas educators. Employees are allowed to set their own appointments with the CFP during office hours and are urged to include their spouse or a trusted friend in the meetings.
THE RESULTS DATA
The numbers don’t lie, and now that the numbers are being watched, the success of the new savings and matching plans is easy to see. Now with the RSP and RMP in place, the percentage of employees at Region 10 contributing to their own retirement has skyrocketed from that disturbing 33% to an astonishing 97%. Who opted out? The 12 employees who chose not to participate fall in to one of three categories: retired/rehired part-timers, about to retire in January, and a few with severe financial challenges in their lives right now. The Board also increased the matching amount by approving up to a 2% contribution to the RMP if the employee sets his/ her own contribution at 2% or greater during 2022-2023.
