‘I can actually retire with security’

When former President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law on Jan. 5, Curlin's future suddenly looked a lot brighter.

The law repealed the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)-rules that became part of Social Security law in 1983, unfairly reducing the benefits that public employees or their spouses earned.

Curlin, her mother, and her twin sisters are all educators in California, one of the 15 states where educators were affected by GPO and WEP. In those states, public employees do not pay intoSocial Security. But many educators work second jobs and summer gigs, and some are career-changers who earned Social Security benefits that were drastically reduced by GPO and WEP.

"Teaching is my second career, but because of GPO and WEP, I didn't think I would receive my full benefits from all the years I paid into Social Security," says Curlin, a middle school math and science teacher and robotics coach in the Compton Unified School District. She expected to work until at least the age of 70, just as her mother did.

"And my mother, who is almost 80 years old, can stop substitute teaching in order to supplement her retirement income," Curlin adds.

While the victory celebration continues, many educators have reached out to NEA with questions about what this means for them.