BEAUMONT, Texas — Retired teachers in Southeast Texas need all the support they can get as a vote to increase their pension checks is headed to the polls.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Early voting will be held from Oct. 23 - Nov. 3.
This is one of 14 propositions on the ballet. While lawmakers approved the cost of living adjustment, Texas voters will still need to give Proposition 9 the green light.
"Many of our retirees are having to answer the question to themselves do I buy food this month or can I afford to pay for my medicine," said retired educator Floyd Broussard.
Broussard remembers vividly the 31 years he spent as an educator at Beaumont Independent School District.
He retired in 1998 from Price Elementary.
But instead of enjoying his retirement the last few years, he's been battling lawmakers in Austin.
"We just had a really had a tough time going and pleading for cost of living adjustments," Broussard said.
The last time the Texas legislature approved a cost of living adjustment was in 2013, but only teachers who retired before 2004 were able to reap the benefits.
"With this inflation, our electricity bill has gone up quite high, the costs of gasoline, food is unbelievable," he said.
If the proposition passes, $4 billion will be allocated to raise retired teachers' monthly checks.
"We need the general public to support Proposition 9. Everyone one of us are because of our teacher," Broussard said.
If it passes, here's what teachers, bus drivers, custodians and others can expect to see monthly:
"They are going to give a two percent, a four percent and a six percent raise. The teacher that has been retired the longest will get the a six percent raise," Broussard said.
The retired educator tells 12News he would spend the extra cash taking his wife Myrtle on a cruise to Alaska.
"We're having to be conservative, we just try to hang around the house and go when we can, but it would certainty help us just like it would everyone else," he said.