This survey will take about 20 minutes to complete.

Your responses will help shape NEARI’s pension priorities and guide our next campaign to improve retirement security for our members. Please take the time to answer each question thoughtfully.

Why We’re Asking

Every NEARI member deserves a secure, dignified retirement after a lifetime of service to our students, communities, and state. The pension changes enacted in 2011 were devastating for many members, and since then, we’ve been fighting to improve our pension.

Progress We’ve Made

Together we’ve already shown that when members organize and take action, we can make meaningful progress.

  • 2024: We held our first Lobby Day in many years, sent more than 5,000 postcards to legislators, and won the first significant improvement to our pension in nearly 40 years, increasing the average pension by approximately $1,000 per year.
  • 2025: NEA and NEA-Retired secured a major federal victory, after decades of advocacy, with the repeal of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which unfairly reduced the Social Security benefits that public employees or their spouses have earned. Now, impacted individuals will see an average increase of $360 per month in Social Security benefits, depending on their employment history.
  • 2026: With passage of the Teacher Survivor Benefit legislation, we won an increase to monthly minimum benefits for a spouse, domestic partner, or former spouse and indexed this increase to inflation. Another meaningful step forward.

These victories happened because we focused on ambitious, achievable, and impactful goals – and because members stood together to fight for them.

Why Your Voice Matters

While we've made important progress, there is still much more to do.

Improving the pension system isn't easy. Rhode Island faces significant budget pressures, the pension fund has not yet reached the state's long-term funding target of 75%, and the pension system itself is complex, with different proposals affecting different members in different ways.

In recent years, there have been many ideas for improving pensions. To win bigger improvements, we need to unite around the priorities that matter most to our members.

This survey will help us understand how different pension proposals would affect you and which improvements you believe NEARI should prioritize.

What Happens Next

We'll use the results of this survey to identify members' top priorities, educate members about potential pension improvements, and develop a focused campaign for 2027.

We can't guarantee the outcome, but we know this: the stronger and more united our members are, the more we can accomplish together.

Your voice will help shape NEARI's next pension campaign.
Let's get started.

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1. First name: (Required.)

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2. Last name: (Required.)

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3. Non-Work Email: (Required.)

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4. Address:

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5. City/Town:

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6. Zip:

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7. Local: (Required.)

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8. How many years of pension-eligible service do you have?

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9. What is your current age?

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10. Membership Type: (Required.)

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