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Retirees urge Omaha Public Schools board to demand state pay missed COLA after OSERS management transfer
Summary
Multiple retired-school employees told the Omaha Public Schools board they did not receive the January 2025 cost-of-living adjustment after the Omaha School Employees Retirement System (OSERS) moved to state management under NPERS, and asked the board to demand full payment and adherence to state law.
Several retired Omaha Public Schools employees addressed the board about missed retirement cost-of-living adjustments following the transfer of the Omaha School Employees Retirement System to the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems.
Walter Sue Dodd, president of the Omaha Education Association (retired), said retirees were told the transition would not change benefits but that many did not receive advance notice about timing or amounts of payments and that the annual COLA payment arrived late this year. “The annual COLA is calculated annually based on the consumer price index of August 31,” Dodd said, adding retirees were paid in February rather than the January payday they expected.
Roger Ray, an OSERS member and former trustee, told the board NPERS’s administrative change for 2025 effectively removed one month of COLA for all retirees — a reduction he calculated as one‑twelfth (about 8.3%) — and urged the board to demand NPERS pay the January 2025 COLA that retirees had earned. “A state agency has no authority to change the benefit structure that is in state law without a change in the law,” Ray said.
Gwen Foxall, speaking for the Omaha Area Retired School Employee Association (ORSEA), and Faith Johnson, vice president of the Omaha Education Association, echoed those concerns and asked the board to press NPERS to restore the missed payment and to ensure ongoing adherence to statutory timing.
Speakers referenced the timing and calculation language in the Class 5 School Employees Retirement Act and said OSERS historically tied COLA calculation to the fiscal year ending Aug. 31 with payment applied in January. They warned that changing the COLA calculation or timing without legislative change reduces promised benefits and undercuts recruitment and retention for district staff.
Board members did not take formal action during public comment. Commenters asked the board to raise the issue with state officials and to demand that NPERS honor the existing statutory schedule and make retirees whole for the missed January payment.
