As a public school educator, I’m constantly feeling the pressure of the state budget crisis — the only given each year is that the state will ask us to do more with less. Good news is a rarity when it comes to resources. But recently a representative from the California Retired Teacher’s Association came to one of our staff meetings, gave us words of encouragement and raffled off two checks for $100! A colleague and I left that staff meeting with $100 to spend on our classrooms. It was like Christmas! Retired teachers could easily leave the profession in the …











