TRS Election Update from Candidate Ben Morgenroth - Election is May 14

UPDATE - May 8 - THE DOE HAS CANCELLED THE TRS ELECTION BY DISQUALIFYING BEN OVER SOME MINOR IRREGULARITY AND DECLARED THE UNITY CANDIDATE THE WINNER

Tuesday May 6, 2025 - 

Congrats to Ben for getting the signatures he needed to run. Unity has controlled the 3 pension reps forever and we need another voice. They serve 3 year terms so there is an election every year. Ben ran last year and got one third of the vote. The election is in the schools on May 14 - retirees, ironically, can't run or vote. I know some people in ABC helped get signatures even though Ben is running with ARISE. It's too bad both campaigns didn't make this an issue to tie into the campaigns but I understand how busy people have been.

Here is Ben's missive:

Hi everyone, A couple of quick updates: First and foremost, congratulations! We collected well over the requisite 1,000 signature to get onto the ballot for the TRS election. This accomplishment is thanks to all of YOU and your hard work! Ours is one of two names that will appear on the ballot in May. I would like to ask everyone to please submit the Google Form below after May 14 to indicate whether the election protocols were properly followed in your school. I may not re-send this form link, so please save a copy of it. Please encourage your colleagues to fill it out as well: www.tinyurl.com/trselection25 Important Election Information: Principals are supposed to provide a copy of the notice of the election, including the names of both candidates, by Wednesday, May 7. Principals are required to hold an election in each school or worksite on Wednesday, May 14. If requested by at least 10% of the staff, the principal must call a meeting between May 2 and May 5 to hold a meeting to discuss the merits of each candidate. Once called to order, the contributors present must elect a chairperson and secretary for the discussion meeting. The election on May 14 shall be held at an in-person, called by the principal. A chairperson and secretary shall be elected at the start of the meeting. At the May 14 meeting: the chairperson shall appoint at least one teller for each of the two candidates, and at least 3 tellers in total. The tellers must be an acknowledged supporter of the particular candidate. Each member receives a ballot and signs a list of contributors (provided by the principal) to indicate they received a ballot. If an error is made, a new ballot shall be provided, and the original ballot shall be indicated as a VOID. No electioneering or discussion of candidates is permissible during the election meeting. For members who are off-site, an alternative voting location is to be provided. After each member has deposited their ballot in the box, the tellers publicly count the ballots and post and announce the results. One copy of the results is to be posted on the official site bulletin board. The ballots are returned to the box, the box is sealed and delivered to the principal, who keeps all ballots in a sealed box for at least 6 months. Note: At CUNY campuses, balloting is to remain open from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM on Wednesday, May 14 and Thursday, May 16. Ballots are counted and tallied at the end of each day (publicly per the procedure above), but not posted until the end of the second day. Please encourage your colleagues to participate in the election on May 14. Thank you again, everyone for all the hard work! Looking forward to the election. Did you know? In 2009, the TDA rate of return was reduced to 7% for UFT titles, an effective cut of $2.3 million per teacher in retirement benefits. All non-UFT titles, including administrators, still receive the full 8.25% TDA. Tier 6 members receive less than half the benefits of Tier 4 members who make equal retirement contributions, and must work up to 15 years longer to receive a full pension. With the recent State re-amortization budget proposal, now, more than ever, it is important to protect our pension against further cuts, and reverse the most recent ones. Candidate statement: www.tinyurl.com/benfortrs2025statement   Committee for the election of  BENJAMIN MORGENROTH AS TEACHER-MEMBER OF THE RETIREMENT BOARD  Co-Chairs  Andrea Kung, Teacher  Urban Academy Laboratory High School 02M565, Manhattan  Aziz Jumash, Teacher  Stuyvesant High School 02M475, Manhattan  TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE TEACHERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM  Dear Colleagues: We are pleased to announce that  Benjamin Morgenroth  will be a candidate for election to the Teachers Retirement Board.  Ben Morgenroth has a strong financial background, expertise, a decade of service in the classroom, and is dedicated to sound investments and member education. Ben is the most qualified candidate for election to the Teachers Retirement board and is the only person running with the financial expertise necessary for the position.  Board trustees are fiduciaries responsible to protect the long-term value of the pension’s investment portfolio and provide benefit security for members. They are entrusted to oversee the investment of our funds and achieve the highest possible long-term rate of return consistent with appropriate levels of diversity and risk.  Ben teaches AP Calculus and Algebra II at Brooklyn Technical High School and has served as a passionate teacher in the New York City public schools for the past decade. He also serves as an adjunct lecturer in Mathematics at Hunter College, City University of New York. He is a life-long New Yorker and a graduate of New York City public schools. He comes from a family of educators and TRS members. Ben holds a BA in Applied Math-Economics from Brown University and a MA in Applied Mathematics from Hunter College. Prior to teaching, Ben served as a business technology consultant and hedge fund risk analyst, helping to manage $3 billion in client investments.  In addition to his investment knowledge and financial expertise, Ben has intimate knowledge of the pension, including the nuances of individual Tiers. Ben is experienced at sharing his extensive pension knowledge with individual members and large groups, including the webinar he hosted focused on understanding and improving pension benefits, options, and Tier 6 reform.  Ben is running as an independent-thinking, union-proud, classroom educator who will serve with the best interests of everyday educators, like you, in mind. He is not beholden to the investors from TRS or any DOE official. This Trustee position will be the third to change hands in as many years. We need to keep our billions of dollars of investments safe and only someone with a strong investment background can be trusted to keep our pension stable, solvent, and ensure that it continues to grow. Ben’s classroom and financial experience make him the best qualified candidate for teacher trustee of TRS.  Ben’s top priorities for our pension:  1. Ensure financial stability and fund solvency to secure financial futures for retirees. 2. Aggressively and judiciously pursue investments that maximize returns while minimizing risk. 3. Continue to hold webinars and workshops in schools to ensure members understand our pension including benefits, investment, and retirement options.  Reverse pension cuts through advocacy to:  ● Improve pension and disability benefits, and pension flexibility, for members in all tiers. ● Restore the 8.25% TDA rate still received by all TRS members except UFT titles, and reverse the 30% reduction (approximately, with compounding) in our TDA benefits instituted in 2009. ● Reduce pension contributions for all tiers and restore the end of pension contributions after 10 years of service.  ● Restore retirement age to 55 for Tier 6 members.  ● Reverse the over 50% reduction in benefits for Tier 6 (compared to Tier 4 with equal contributions) instituted in 2010-2012.  ● Improve Final Average Salary calculation for pension benefits that better reflect real earnings. ● Update COLA law for benefit increases that keep pace with inflation.  ● Offer swifter movement of funds between TDA investment options (reduce time lag from 30-120 days to 1 day)

 

TRS Election Was Consequential - Results Are Out - Ben Gets Over a Third With a Minimal Campaign While Unity Went All Out

Massive Unity failure in GOTV

....Unity also has the school by school data and can tell which of their district reps and chapter leaders actually did the work. The outcomes were so poor for the Unity GOTV effort I bet the leadership is plenty pissed at their own people. Don't be shocked to see some heads roll.

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

 

The shock and awe of only the second ever TRS election for UFT trustee (the last one was over 30 years ago) to the UFT/Unity cult and to the DOE is still reverberating on multiple levels. The DOE clearly violated the law with its electronic voting plan and the turnout was very poor. I'm trying to get totals but roughly Ben got over a third despite a heavy Unity campaign for his opponent. The Unity failure may be the major takeaway from this election. No wonder they were so perturbed at being forced to run an unexpected campaign. They knew they were not prepared. And very upset that this is an election controlled by the DOE, not them. Which leads us to this:

The late breaking news is that UFT legal eagle, Rude Beth Norton, has contacted Ben and Daniel Alicea (the alternate) about joining a union complaint about the election.

An interesting development, given Unity won by two thirds.

Why protest an election they won? Lots of speculation, including the low turnout as a condemnation of the Unity machine which went all out. Do they want a redo?

I wouldn't be shocked to see the UFT use this election as a way to try to change the law in ways to tip future elections in their favor --  like maybe "offer" to take the running of the election off the hands of the DOE. Make sure electronic voting is NOT on the table. And how do they argue that in next year's UFT election they should continue to use the massively expensive paper ballots? And how about letting retirees vote in a TRS election?

 

Despite the Unity win, I'm not betting on there being joy at 52 Mudville today. Some oppo are already talking about doing it again next year.

Ben did quite well given limited resources and campaign

The most unique data we have is the DOE giving us 18 pages listing all schools and how they voted. (I will publish at some point). This is something I've been asking the UFT to do for years in the general election and they refuse but I bet they get that data from the AAA anyway and don't share it. The reason is I wanted to see how our own people did in getting out the vote. This time we can see how the GOTV worked in every school. Now many had zero votes or so few the data is meaningless. I'm betting that where Ben did well it was tied to schools that did petitions for him and it means some person in the building did the work. 

 

I give Ben Morgenroth top credit for the organizing he did and his extensive contacts in enough schools to give him a credible outcome. We all learned a lot about organizing on short notice and I hope we see a campaign every year for the TRS position - they are rotated in 3 year terms and one Unity pension rep must run every year. 

Also expect this election to help form a base for next year's general UFT election, along with the work being done in the para and retiree chapter elections, plus all the school based chapter elections which will lead to new leadership in many schools.

This is worth repeating:

 

Massive Unity failure in GOTV

On the reverse side, Unity also has the data and can tell which of their district reps and chapter leaders actually did the work. The outcomes were so poor for the Unity GOTV effort I bet the leadership is plenty pissed at their own people. Don't be shocked to see some heads roll. 

We are looking at the data for certain districts with big mouth DRs who attack the oppo -- so far it is not looking good for them.

I always argue with my oppo friends - any progress we make is not due to the organizing we do but in the failures of the organizing of Unity and the increasing level of incompetence at the top. They are the gift that keeps giving. 

 

Oh, if the oppo ever did really get organized.

 

The campaign TRS campaign has brought crucial issues to the attention of many UFTers, like:

• Tier 6 - Accelerating the campaign for changes
• Reduction of interest from 8.25 to 7% for UFTers only: Randi's 2009 folly cost me $22,000 this year.
• The rubber stamp role Unity reps must play due to dictates of the UFT/Unity leadership.
• The value in having at least one non-Unity choice to push back on important issues, like the fees paid, especially to private equity.
• The learning experience an ad hoc group of people who organized this campaign outside the usual caucus structure gained. 
  

 

When I got my last TDA statement I calculated that Randi's move to 7% cost me $22,000 last year. Randi will be at the retiree meeting next Tuesday and I'm tempted to hold up a big check for her to sign for 22k.

 

I'm still concerned about the state of the opposition and if there will be an organized opposition capable of challenging Unity seriously next year. (More than one slate running against Unity will be a disaster). UFC has not really operated other than some people working together on the Ex bd.  It is impossible to calculate the impact of the loss of James Eterno and the work he was doing on the ICE blog. Last night at the RA webinar (attended by almost 150 people) one person gave James a shout out.

 

Ad Hoc Campaign

That the idea to run in the TRS election, find a candidate, and create and execute a campaign came from a small group chat one evening and not from the active UFT opposition caucuses (though members of some caucuses were involved). 

 

The process has broader consequences for the way the usual suspects in the UFT opposition have functioned. As a member of that chat, I was impressed by the open method of dialogue and the free back and forth that took place over the next few weeks. 

After my experience of being part of the founding of 3 oppo caucuses over the past 50 years, I realize that the processes and rules inside of caucuses, with some rigidity, can temper a free flow of ideas. No caucus I know could have responded as quickly and effectively.

 

These informal chats also led to last year's health care petition campaign, the para election slate and other initiatives. Some had objected that the people involved weren't going through a UFC multi caucus process where each caucus could veto an action or delay by saying they had to go back to their caucus steering committee. That process is like death by a thousand cuts. I know, people charge that process is democratic and having small groups decide to take an action is undemocratic. Guilty. I'm too old to wait for messy democracy to unfold. But the process is actually democratic in the sense if the idea is good people will sign on and if not it will bomb. 

 

So far the process of open dialogue in small groups of compatible people seems to have worked out. When challenged, my response it "Build it and they will come." So far we have seen the caucuses see the value of the idea and join in supporting it without going through a cumbersome process like we had two years ago with UFC.

I can't tell what the future will bring, but the relative success of the TRS dissident election is a hopeful sign.

 

Below are commentary from Arthur, always valuable.

TRS Election Issues as Both Campaigns File Protests, A Conversation with Ben Morgenroth: NYC TRS Trustee Candidate

The trustee election is by law supposed to take place tomorrow, May 8, in the schools. It seems to have been postponed to May 9. I pointed out over a month ago that the DOE is not competent enough to run this election. They announced they would do it electronically, which is not what the law says even though that would be the right way to do it. 

I posted details on The Wire - see below. And Nick has the latest from last night's ex bd meeting: What’s going on with the TRS Election? – UFT Executive Board Minutes – 5/6/2024 

The trustee election, for which NAC’s own Ben Morgenroth is running a spirited campaign, is being formally contested by the UFT, as the DOE apparently is not following the letter of the election law. As far as I can tell, Ben’s campaign is more negatively affected by this than Unity’s candidate, since the UFT has directly emailed members with her name (but not Ben’s), whereas the DOE has NOT notified members the two are running – part of the law. (That means UFT members, as well as other TRS members, don’t know that Ben is running – at least UFT members know his opponent is). Edit: Check your DOE emails – while late, at least THAT problem has been addressed – again, not in the correct time frame though. There are some other questions—the election will be digital, something I support in theory, but it’s apparently an alleged violation of the law. I digress. Vote for Ben this week, as the election is apparently happening despite the contesting. It will likely be online, so check your DOE emails and let us know if you face problems voting.

Check out Daniel's interview with Ben:

A Conversation with Ben Morgenroth: NYC TRS Trustee Candidate

Episode Summary

 

Daniel interviewed Ben Morgenroth, candidate for the upcoming TRS Pension Board election. He is an AP Calculus math teacher at Brooklyn High School, CUNY adjunct, and a former investment fund risk analyst. They discussed the TRS election scheduled to be conducted electronically by NYC schools, on May 8th — and now, according to a recent DOE memo, also on May 9th. They discussed the controversy over how the DOE intends to conduct the election seemingly in violation of Admin code 13-507.

We shared a startling update about the ongoing Illuminated privacy breach of student and teacher data. Also, we aired an excerpt of Chancellor David Banks’ press conference this week where he previewed his upcoming congressional testimony dealing with hate in our schools.

Call to Action: Contact DOE Chancellor and his liaison about failures in rolling out TRS trustee election process

Most teachers and school principals STILL don’t know there is an important TRS trustee election on Wednesday — and, now, also held on Thursday according to DOE ‘hidden’ memo.

Norm Scott

May 06, 2024

There is supposed to be an election in schools this Wednesday for the TRS pension board election. The big problem is that an overwhelming amount of teachers and principals/school administrators have received little to no notification about the election process that the DOE is proposing.

There was a backdated memo released on the DOE backend web pages that reportedly some superintendents received on Thursday morning. And the DOE posted a blurb about their proposed process on its back room intranet, called InfoHub, seemingly late Friday, after most teachers went home for the day. Yet, again, to this date teachers and other TRS members will tell you that no direct email or notification has come from the DOE or their principals about the election, the candidates or its process.

The matter is further complicated since the DOE’s proposed process for this week’s election contradicts the process outlined in the law that spells out what the process must look like.

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Call to Action

🚨 Most of the active teachers have little to no details about the election process for this Wednesday’s election for teacher-member for our TRS pension board.

We need to email the chancellor and his liason about this!

Here are their emails:

Rodi Katherine - KRodi@schools.nyc.gov

DOE Chancellor David C. Banks- NYCChancellor@schools.nyc.gov

CUNY Chancellor Felix V. Matos - Chancellorcommunications@cuny.edu

cc:

Michael Mulgrew, UFT President - mmulgrew@uft.org

Beth Norton, UFT legal counsel - bnorton@uft.org

Elizabeth Vladek, DOE legal counsel - evladek@schools.nyc.org

Jumaane Williams, NYC Public Advocate - gethelp@advocate.nyc.gov

Find a sample email template you can tweak to email them.

———

Esteemed,

My name is (name) and I am working at (your school). I have been working for the NYCPS since ….

I’d like to know how TRS members will be able to have their voices heard in the first election in over thirty years for TRS teacher member trustee. I understand the vote has been extended to May 9th. Who is responsible for making sure that all members of TRS get an opportunity to vote? Why are so many of us not aware of this election and its details? Why are so many principals and administrators also unaware of the details and their roles in conducting this process?

Lastly, will the proposed election process comply with the law — namely city Admin code 13-507?

Our pensions are an important conversation for all of us. This election should provide spaces for this discussion. Also, it’s important that the process is done properly or it can adversely affect the taxpayers as well.

Please let us know as soon as possible.

Name

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Below, find the DOE memo that has not been effectively communicated to the voting TRS members. Adding to the chaos, the UFT leadership sent out an email, yesterday, sharing election process details that don’t exactly align with the DOE’s proposed plans. It’s leading to more confusion and questions.

There are reports that the UFT and the Ben Morgenroth campaign have brought the issue to the DOE and, separately, have filed formal complaints.