Marshall Dzurko (1934-2005) started teaching as an elementary teacher in Oyen and eventually became the Superintendent of Schools for the Acadia School Division. In 1984 he moved to Calgary to become a Social Studies consultant with Alberta Education. Mary Ellen Ziel (1920-2005) taught at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and at Jasper Composite High School.

What kind of pension do you have?
In the 1992 changes to the Teachers' Pension Act, the ATRF pension was defined as a "Contributory-Benefit Defined Pension" - there is no definition for this term in the Act.

However two common types of pension are:
Defined Benefit - a formula is used to calculate your pension based on factors that include: your age, income, years of contribution. The pension is guaranteed by the employer and is not dependent on the value of the contributions.
Defined Contribution - the amount that is contributed into your pension is defined by a formula. The amount you receive on retirement is dependent on the accrued value of your 'personal pension fund' (contributions plus interest earned) when you begin to draw your pension.

As well in the changes to the Act, references to the Government guarantee for the pre-1992 service are not present for post-1992 service. From this it appears that contributions prior to 1992 are guaranteed, contributions from 1992 are not.

The term used in the Teachers' Pensions Act, Contributory-Benefit Defined Pension seems to refer to a blend of a Government guaranteed, defined benefit for the pre-1992 service and for the period after 1992 defined contribution is not guaranteed.
Submitted by Ralph Levinson

 

ARTA © 2005

 

 

Photographs taken at the Calgary Retired Teachers' Convention Get-together held this spring.
(Photographs courtesy of CRTA)

More photographs relating to the Calgary Retired Teachers' Association can be seen at www.calgaryretiredteachers.ca

Computer inept! - A Dell customer called to say he could not get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the screen and hitting the "Send" key. - AST had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.